SERMONS 


PREACHED    IN 


Plymouth   Church,  Brooklyn, 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


FROM  ELLINWOOD'S  STENOGRAPHIC  REPORTS. 


MARCH -SEPTEMBER,  1874 


NEW  YORK: 

FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT. 
1896 


COPYRIGHT  IN  1874.  BY 
I.    B.    FORD  &   COMPANY. 


\1 

CONTENTS. 


I.  CHARLES  SUMNER  (Isaiah  i.  26)    .  .7 

LESSON :  Psalm  zziil.    'HYMNS : 865, 962, 1004. 

II.  SAVBD  BY  HOPE  (Rom.  viii.  24,  25)  .       .       .26 

LESSON  :  Rom.  viil.  15-38.    HYMNS  :  130, 1230. 660. 

III.  THE  PRIMACY  OP  LOVE  (1  Cor.  i.  18-24)     ...     4? 

LESSON:  1  Cor.  zlll.    HYMNS  :  247, 1261, 1225. 

IV.  FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION  (Col.  iii.  1-4)  .       .      71 

LESSON  :  Col.  ill.  1-17.   HYMNS  :  40, 364, 55L 
V.  SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL  (Luke  xvii.  21).       .       .       .98 

LESSON:  Horn.  ziil.    HYMNS:  255, 60*  1X3. 

VI.  HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY  (Gal.  v.  22-26)  .       .       .117 

LESSON  :  Rom.  zli.    HYMNS  :  365, 668, 660. 

VII.  SOUL-RELATIONSHIP  (Gal.  iii.  26-29,  Eph.  ii.  19-22)    .    148 

LESSON:  Eph.  i.    HYMNS:  1298,816, 1230. 

VIII.  CHRISTIAN  JOYPULNESS  (Rom.  xii.  12)        ...    169 

LESSON  :  Eph.  1. 11-23 ;  11. 1-7.    HYMNS  :  217, 922. 

IX.  LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES  (1  Cor.  xii.  31)       .       .    198 

LESSON  :  Rom.  zlv.  1-19.    HYMNS  :  119, 970. 949. 
X.  THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION  (1  Cor.  vi.  19,  20)        .    238 

LKSSON :  Psalm  zlx.    HYMNS :  100B,  1001, 10BO. 

XI.  GOD'S  GRACE  (Eph.  ii.  8) 251 

LESSON  :  isa.  iv.   HYMNS  :  130, 180, 660. 
-XII.  IDEAL  CHRISTIANITY  (2  Pet.  ii.  1-4)     ....    278 

LESSON  :  2  Pet.  1. 1-11.    HYMNS  :  898,  865, 1261. 

.  THE  PROBLEM  OP  LIFE  (1  John  iii.  2,  3 ;  Rom.  viii. 
18-21) 291 

LESSON :  Matt.  zz.  17-34.    HYMNS :  255, 1235, 1263. 
*  PLYMOUTH  COLLECTION. 


tV  CONTENTS. 

MM 

XIV.  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS  (Matt.  vii.  1)  .       .       .    815 

LESSON  :  James  iii.    »HYMNS  :  104,  1023, 1053. 

XV.  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD  WORK  (Rom.  xiv.  18)    343 

LESSON  :  Matt.  v.  1-16.   HYMNS  :  ISO,  604, 907. 
XVI.  THE  UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD  (Isa.  liv.  5).        .    365 

LESSON  :  Isa.  liv.    HYMNS  :  552,  655,  660. 

XVII.  THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE  (Matt.  xx.  28 ; 

Phil.  ii.  1-11) 391 

LESSON  :  Psalm  xcvi.    HYMNS  :  212, 907. 

XVIII.  TRUTH-SPEAKING  (Epri.  iv.  25) 411 

LESSON  :  Prov.  u.  1-22.   HYMNS  :  i02, 513, 657.  > 

XIX.  THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS  (1  Cor.  ii.  1-6)     .  VT  429 

LESSON  :  Phil.  11. 1-11.    HYMNS  :  666,  838,  346. 

XX.  RESOLVING  AND  DOING  (Phil.  ii.  12,  13)  .       .       .    449 

LESSON  :  Psalm  xc.    HYMNS  :  578,  513,  657. 

XXI.  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  GOODNESS  (Rev.  xv.  3,  4)  .       .    467 

LESSON  :  Rev.  v.    HYMNS  :  1251, 1230. 

XXII.  FOLLOWING  CHRIST  (Matt.  iv.  17-22)        ...    488 

LESSON  :  Isa.  Iv.    HYMNS  :  1321,  847, 657. 

XXIII.  PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE  (Matt.  vi.  19-2ij   .       .    501 

LESSON  :  Matt.  vi.  19-34.    HYMNS  :  1309, 901, 1294. 

,  XXIV.  WHAT  is  RELIGION  ?  (2  Tim.  ii.  19)  .       .       .       .    517 

LESSON  :  Gal.  v.  1-13.    HYMNS  :  888,  705,  DoxolOKy. 

XXV.  CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY  (Rom.  xii.  4,  5)      .       .       .541 

LESSON  .  Rom.  xli.    HYMNS  :  102,  632. 

IXVI.  LUMINOI>  HOURS  (Luke  ix.  28-42)    ....    667 

uke  Ix.  28-42.    HYMNS  ;  119,  564,  Doxology. 


•  PLYMOUTH  COLLECTION. 


CHARLES  SUMMER. 


"And  I  will  restore  thy  judges  as  at  the  first,  and  thy  counsellors 
as  at  the  beginning :  afterward  thou  shalt  he  called  the  city  of  right- 
eousness, the  faithful  city."— ISAIAH  i.,  36. 


The  best  gift  of  God  to  nations  is  the  gift  of  upright 
men — especially  upright  men  for  magistrates,  statesmen,  and 
rulers.  How  bountiful  soever  the  heavens  may  be ;  how 
rich  the  earth  may  be  in  harvests  ;  though  every  wind  of 
heaven  waft  prosperity  to  its  ports,  till  the  land  is  crowded 
with  warehouses  stuffed  to  repletion  with  treasure,  that  coun- 
try is  poor  whose  citizens  are  not  noble,  and  that  republic  is 
poor  which  is  not  governed  by  noble  men  selected  by  its 
citizens. 

The  signs  of  decay  in  the  life  of  a  nation  show  themselves 
as  soon  as  anywhere  else  in  the  character  of  the  men  who  are 
called  to  govern  it.  When  they  seek  their  own  ends,  and 
not  the  public  weal ;  when  they  abandon  principles,  and 
administer  according  to  the  personal  interest  of  cliques  and 
parties ;  when  they  forsake  righteousness,  and  call  upon 
greedy,  insatiable  selfishness  for  counsel ;  and  when  the  laws 
and  the  whole  framework  of  the  government  are  but  so 
many  instruments  of  oppression  and  of  wrong,  then  the 
nation  cannot  be  far  from  decadence.  When  God  means 
to  do  well  by  a  nation  that  has  backslidden,  among  the 
earliest  tokens  of  his  beneficent  intent  is  the  restoration  of 
men  of  integrity  and  of  honor — men  who  live  for  their 
fellows,  and  not  for  themselves. 

SUNDAY  EVENING.  March  15, 1874.    LKSSON  :  Psa.  xxtli.    HYMNS r  (Plymouth  Col. 

lection) :  Nos.  865, 982, 1,004. 


8  CHARLES  SUMNER. 

I  propose  to  look  back  a  little  to-night  over  that  great 
period  of  decadence  with  which  so  many  of  us  are  too 
familiar,  but  which  must  not  be  forgotten,  lest  the  lesson 
which  it  teaches  should  also  perish. 

The  beginnings  of  our  land,  as  you  remember,  were 
eminently  religious.  Our  fathers  came  hither  to  establish 
a  new  and  notable  dispensation,  seeking  to  lay  it  upon  foun- 
dations of  righteousness.  For  generations  they  succeeded  ; 
and  here  was  developed  that  consummate  form  of  liberty 
which  carried  out,  as  it  could  not  be  carried  out  in  antiquity, 
the  idea  of  the  freedom  of  the  whole  people. 

It  was  here  that  France  lit  her  torch  ;  but  she  knew  not 
how  to  follow  our  example.  To  a  large  extent  it  was  from 
this  land  that  liberty  derived  in  Europe  its  modern  impetus. 
We  ourselves  derived  the  seed  of  liberty  from  Holland  and 
from  England  ;  but  we  planted  it  here  under  a  free  sky  and 
upon  a  noble  soil ;  and  from  this  seed  which  we  brought 
hither  we  reared  a  harvest ;  and  we  sent  back  and  resowed  in 
France,  in  Germany,  and  throughout  Europe,  it  would  seem 
now,  the  same  blessed  truths  which  have  emancipated  us. 

But  "  when  the  sons  of  God  came  to  present  themselves 
before  the  Lord,  Satan  came  also  among  them ;"  and  when 
our  institutions  were  framed  for  liberty  and  for  righteousness, 
there  was  permitted  to  be  twined  among  them  an  element 
false  in  morals,  corrupt  in  political  economy,  and  utterly 
subversive  of  all  rights  and  doctrines  of  human  liberty ;  and 
there  came  to  be  developed  a  procedure  which,  while  it  gave 
partial  benefit  to  a  favored  class,  corrupted  the  whole  system 
of  industry,  not  alone  in  the  immediate  field  where  this 
procedure  was  established — namely,  in  the  slaveholding  States 
of  the  Union — but  indirectly,  and  by  the  circulation,  as  it 
were,  in  the  whole  body  politic.  For  slavery  is  essential 
treason  to  free  labor,  and  to  the  rights  of  the  working  man, 
the  world  over.  It  is  esteemed  bad  enough  for  labor  to  be 
indebted  to  capital ;  but  it  was  worse  a  thousand  times  when 
capital  owned  not  only  labor  but  the  laborer  too ;  and  that 
was  the  condition  of  labor  and  political  economy  over  the 
fairest  portion  of  this  continent. 

Organized  into  our  affairs,  the  principle  of  slavery  infiu- 


CHARLES  SUMNER.  9 

enced  national  history  in  such  a  way  as  to  inevitably  pro- 
duce antagonism,  clash,  and  grating  of  interests.  When  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Missouri  come  together,  and  their  waters 
push  each  other  every  whither,  and  their  face  is  covered  with 
eddies  and  wrinkles,  it  is  in  vain  for  the  Mississippi  to  re- 
proach the  Missouri ;  and  it  is  in  vain  for  the  eastward-com- 
ing river  to  reproach  the  southward-coming  river.  It  is  nol 
the  fault  of  either  of  them  that  they  scowl  upon  each  other. 
There  is  a  law  that  makes  it  unavoidable.  So,  that  democ- 
racy which  developed  freedom  in  labor,  and  that  aristocracy 
which  developed  bondage  in  labor,  in  the  same  government, 
could  not  keep  their  hands  off  from  each  other.  They  were 
born  antagonists,  and  conflict  between  them  was  a  necessity. 

There  was,  then,  this  latent  principle  of  antagonism 
which  threatened  our  existence.  In  the  conflict  which  en- 
sued, and  which  increased  as  the  elements  of  liberty  and 
slavery  ripened  into  full  expression  in  national  life,  there  was 
more  and  more  a  corrupting  of  the  morals  and  the  conscience 
of  the  whole  nation.  The  entire  South  was  corrupted  by 
perversion  ;  for  that  which  the  fathers  believed  was  a  permis- 
sible evil,  to  be  done  away  in  the  course  of  time,  their  de- 
scendants, when  it 'became  profitable  in  the  fields  of  both 
money  and  politics,  turned  and  justified.  Although  in  the 
early  days  the  opponents  of  slavery  were  eminently  the  ablest 
men  of  the  South,  in  the  more  recent  days  all  the  leading 
men  of  the  South — her  scholars,  her  poets,  her  publicists, 
and  her  ministers — all  joined  in  one  great  outcry  to  justify 
slavery,  and  to  make  it  the  very  foundation  of  national  life, 
as  well  as  the  very  philosophy  of  national  thrift.  So  the 
whole  South  went  wrong,  under  the  influence  of  slavery ; 
and  it  was  taught  in  her  schools  and  in  her  colleges,  until  a 
whole  generation  had  been  brought  up  from  the  cradle  in  the 
doctrine  of  its  essential  beneficence,  and  of  its  wisdom  in  po- 
litical economy.  It  is  in  vain  to  say  that  the  people  of  the 
South  did  not  believe  this  doctrine.  The  younger  men  of 
the  South  did  believe  it.  It  came  to  them  almost  with  their 
growth.  But  none  the  less  were  they  perverted  and  cor- 
rupted by  it. 

The  North  was  yet  more  corrupted,  because  her  interests 


10  CHARLES  SUMNER. 

led  her  largely  to  placate  and  defer  to  tlie  South.  Nothing 
can  be  more  melancholy,  particularly  for  the  Eastern  part 
of  our  land,  than  to  remember  the  public  sentiment  which 
existed  in  churches,  when  it  was  made  an  offense  that  almost 
ostracised  a  man  to  plead  in  a  prayer-meeting  for  slaves ; 
when  men  bated  their  breath  in  speaking  of  human  lights ; 
when  pulpits  not  only  were  dumb,  but  were  employed  very 
largely  in  the  defense  or  palliation  of  slavery,  or  only  admit- 
ted in  an  underbreath  that  it  was  an  evil — an  evil  which 
must  be  borne  with  patiently.  If  there  was  not  apology  for 
slavery,  there  was  at  least  a  guilty  silence  concerning  it  dur- 
ing a  long  period  in  the  pulpits  of  the  North. 

The  benevolent  associations  of  the  North — especially  those 
men  who  were  relied  upon  to  carry  out  the  essential  parts  of 
their  work — were  wrapt  up  in  complicity  with  this  great  mis- 
chief, and  refused  to  bear  their  testimony.  I  will  not  go  into 
detail ;  but  you  will  remember  how  pitiful  was  the  position 
of  the  great  missionary  and  publishing  societies  of  the  Chris- 
tian community  in  the  North.  Following  their  lead,  the 
commercial  publishers  took  out  of  their  publications  of  every 
kind  those  great  truths  which  had  been  the  meat  of  gener- 
ations before ;  and  in  their  reading-books  nothing  was  said  of 
liberty  that  could  be  construed  as  condemning  American 
slavery.  In  none  of  their  books  for  the  use  of  schools  was 
there  anything  that  could  offend  the  South.  So  fashion, 
commerce,  religion,  and  politics  throughout  the  North  were 
lowered  in  tone ;  and  they  did  obeisance  to  slavery.  In  poli- 
tics, if  possible,  it  was  worse  than  anywhere  else,  by  reason 
of  ambition  and  political  aspiration.  From  the  peculiar 
position  of  affairs,  no  man  in  the  North  who  hoped  for 
preferment  dared  to  speak  on  the  subject  of  liberty.  Do 
you  not  remember  when  every  young  lawyer  was  warned 
not  to  give  way  to  intemperate  enthusiasm  in  favor  of  free- 
dom, because  it  would  certainly  block  up  all  hope  of  his 
advancement?  Do  you  not  remember  when  no  man  could 
hope  to  go  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  and  certainly 
not  to  the  national  Legislature,  if  he  dared  to  utter  an  honest 
sentiment  of  liberty  ?  Men  were  marked  ;  and  if  they  de- 
sired ready  advancement,  not  simply  must  they  be  silent  in 


CHARLES  SUMNER.  H 

regard  to  the  sacredness  of  freedom,  but  they  must  say  some 
kind  and  conciliatory  things  for  slavery.  When  they  did 
this,  they  were  wnaid. 

Therefore,  it  came  to  pass  that  there  was  bred  a  genera- 
ation  of  men  of  whom  the  fathers  in  the  upper  sphere  were 
ashamed.  There  were  men  in  the  North  who  were  cor- 
rupted by  the  bribes  which  were  presented  to  them  by  slavery. 
There  were  political  eunuchs,  emasculated  men,  fearing,  cal- 
culating, tergiversating.  We  never  had  a  period  of  more 
profound  national  humiliation  than  that  between  1830  and 
1860. 

I  myself  came  into  public  life  about  the  year  1837,  and 
I  was  a  witness  of  this  condition  of  things;  so  that  I  speak 
from  my  own  knowledge.  The  great  struggle  at  that  time, 
I,  remember  full  well,  was  for  liberty  of  thought  and  of 
expression.  I  was  tutored.  I  had  friends  in  high  places 
who  took  me  aside,  and  whispered  in  my  ear,  saying,  "  Pru- 
dence ;  caution ;  you  have  opportunity  ;  good  society  is  open 
to  you  :  do  not  blight  your  prospects.  There  is  a  chance  for 
you  in  public  life  :  do  not  spoil  your  opportunity  of  ascend- 
ing by  rash  speaking.  Wait ;  consider ;  let  your  thoughts 
ripen."  Muzzling  and  suffocation  were  the  order  of  the  day. 
I  remember  distinctly  when  Birney's  press  was  mobbed,  in 
Cincinnati,  and  dragged  through  the  streets,  and  thrown 
into  the  Ohio  River.  I  remember  perfectly  the  night  when 
I  patrolled  th3  streets,  armed,  to  defend  the  houses  of  the 
poor  colored  people  in  that  city.  I  remember  when  no 
prayer-meeting  or  church-gathering  allowed  men  to  speak  on 
the  subject  of  liberty.  I  remember  when  in  Presbytery  and 
Synod  it  was  considered  a  heresy  to  advocate  freedom.  I  re- 
member when  it  was  regarded  as  next  to  treason  in  politics 
for  a  man  to  be  an  avowed  advocate  of  national  liberty. 

The  battle  began  in  the  North  on  the  question  of  whether 
liberty  of  thought,  liberty  of  speech,  and  liberty  of  printing, 
should  be  maintained  ;  and  we  went  through  days  when  the 
birds  of  fate  laid  addled  egg? — and  we  had  all  we  wanted  of 
them  ;  days  of  darkness  and  humiliation  and  disgrace. 

The  condition  of  Washington  from  1830  to  1860  was  worse 
than  the  court  of  Pharaoh  while  he  held  the  Israelites  in 


12  CHARLES  SVMKER. 

bondage.  I  speak  not  of  its  want  of  thrift ;  I  speak  not  of 
its  slatternly  condition  ;  I  spe'ak  not  of  its  lack  of  enterprise ; 
I  speak  not  of  the  smothering  there  of  every  element  of  pros- 
perity :  I  speak  of  the  moral  degradation  that  prevailed  there, 
and  of  the  rod  of  iron  which  was  held  over  the  heads  of  all 
the  men  who  went  there.  Aggressive  politics  was  there  the 
order  of  the  day.  Among  the  movements  in  this  direc- 
tion was  the  passage  of  that  blessed  infamy,  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law.  I  say  blessed,  because  that,  perhaps,  marked  the 
time  when  reaction  really  set  in.  It  was  the  most  cruel  in- 
sult, and  the  most  needless  that  was  ever  offered  by  men 
given  over  by  fate  to  fatuity,  to  the  conscience  of  Northern 
men.  There  was  no  necessity  for  it.  It  was  a  defiance 
thrown  in  the  face  of  Northern  men. 

Then  came  the  Kansas  struggle.  Then  came  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  Ihen  came  preparations  for 
the  nationalization  of  slavery.  Then  came  the  scheme  for 
allowing  slaves  to  go  in  transitu  through  the  Northern 
States.  Changes  in  the  Constitution  were  contemplated  by 
which  slavery  should  be  as  national  as  liberty. 

Those  were  the  elements  to  which  we  had  come  when  the 
war  surprised  us.  Dark  times  were  upon  us  then.  I  remem- 
ber them  full  well.  I  had  drunk  in  the  love  of  liberty  with 
the  breath  of  my  life.  I  do  not  remember  an  hour,  in  my 
very  boyhood,  in  which  my  soul  was  not  on  fire  for  the 
rights  of  men.  I  never  wavered.  I  never  bent.  Although 
I  had  the  same  desire  for  kindness  and  consideration  and 
sympathy  which  every  generous  and  unperverted  heart  has,  I 
never  saw  the  moment  when  I  would  buy  popularity  or  posi- 
tion in  society  by  yielding  one  hair's-breadth  of  my  feeling 
of  enthusiastic  conscience  for  human  rights,  and  for  rights 
that  were  sacred  in  proportion  as  they  were  denied  to  men, 
and  in  proportion  as  men  were  poor,  and  crude,  and  un- 
helpful of  themselves. 

I  very  well  remember  groaning  and  travailing  in  spirit 
through  all  those  dark  days.  I  did  not  altogether  give  up 
hope ;  but,  from  the  year  1856  to  the  year  1860,  events  trod 
so  fast  on  each  other  that  I  confess  to  so  much  relinquish- 
ment  of  hope  that  I  feared  that  perhaps  God  meant  to  break 


CHARLES  SUHNER.  13 

this  nation  in  pieces  to  teach  the  nations  of  the  earth  the 
guilt  and  delusion  of  human  bondage.  I  could  not  bear  it ; 
and  many  a  prayer  in  this  house,  many  a  prayer  in  my  own 
closet,  many  a  prayer  in  the  highway,  and  many  a  prayer  in 
the  forest,  have  I  sent  up,  that  this  nation  might  be  spared 
and  purged,  rather  than  destroyed  for  the  benefit  of  pos- 
terity. 

The  mercy  of  God  was  seen  early,  in  raising  up  an  army 
of  men  to  resist  the  mischiefs  that  were  threatened  to  the 
country.  Private  men  there  were  not  a  few  who  enlisted  in 
the  cause  of  freedom.  There  was  Garrison,  the  uncompro- 
mising and  harsh  truth-teller.  There  was  the  fiery  Weld, 
like  a  second  Peter  the  Hermit.  There  was  the  patrician 
Phillips,  who  never  spoke  without  piercing — whose  tongue 
was  a  rapier.  There  was  May,  of  sweeter  heart,  and  equally 
noble  courage.  There  was  Jackson,  who,  though  not  known, 
was  one  of  those  secret  sources  of  supply  and  influence  which 
determined  events.  There  were  the  two  Tappans,  one  of 
whom  was  long  with  us.  There  was  Joshua  Leavitt,  a  citi- 
zen of  Brooklyn  until  a  year  or  two  ago,  when  he  departed. 
There  was  Rogers,  who  died  of  a  broken  heart  early  in  the 
struggle.  There  were  Whittier,  and  Longfellow,  and  Lowell, 
and  Emerson,  and  others,  of  whom  I  shall  speak  again. 

It  is  often  said  that  the  church  of  the  North  was  corrupt- 
ed. At  one  period,  it  certainly  was  guilty.  Nor  did  we 
have  the  help  of  the  great  majority  of  the  churches  of  the 
North  in  the  Eastern  States  until  a  comparatively  late  period 
of  the  conflict.  But  I  can  say,  to  the  credit  of  the  New- 
school  Presbyterian  church  of  the  West,  with  which  my  lot 
was  cast,  that,  before  the  year  1837,  it  was  effectually 
leavened  by  liberty.  The  first  vote  that  I  ever  cast  in  the 
Presbyterian  church  was  a  vote  that  the  Presbytery  of  Indian- 
apolis would  never  receive  a  licentiate,  or  would  never  license 
any  man,  who  held  slaves,  unless  he  would  show  to  us  that 
he  held  them  unwillingly,  and  that  he  would  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible give  them  up.  My  impression  is  that  there  was  not  in 
the  New-school  Presbyterian  church  in  Indiana  a  minister 
who  was  not  in  favor  of  liberty.  Long  before  the  church  in 
the  East  was  aroused  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  the  Western 


14  CHARLES  SUMNER. 

church  stood  established  in  opposition  to  it.  The  ministers 
of  the  New-school  Presbyterian  church  in  the  West  were  early 
and  faithful  laborers  for  emancipation. 

Of  public  men,  we  shall  not  soon  forget  the  mission  of 
John  Quincy  Adams.  Many  of  you  have  forgotten  the  noble 
tasks  imposed  upon  himself  by  Governor  Slade.  There  was 
Gerrit  Smith  and  there  was  Alvan  Stewart.  There  was 
Joshua  Giddings,  who  early  espoused  the  Anti-slavery  cause. 
There  was  Hale,  who  served  it  in  the  Senate.  There  was 
Seward,  both  in  New  York  and  in  the  Senate.  There  was 
Greeley,  foremost  among  journalists.  Still  later  was  Sum- 
ner  ;  and  Stevens  ;  and  later  yet,  Lincoln,  and  his  great  war- 
minister,  Stanton.  These,  and  many  others  whom  time 
would  fail  me  to  mention,  were  the  men  who  appeared  to 
turn  back  the  captivity,  and  establish  the  glory  and  radiance 
of  universal  liberty. 

Then  came  the  blinding  of  the  wise  and  the  weakening  of 
the  strong.  Then  came  the  fatuity  of  Southern  leadership. 
Had  the  leaders  of  the  South  been  wise,  we  might  still  have 
been  enthralled.  Time  and  again  it  seemed  to  me  that,  not 
being  wise,  if  they  had  been  at  least  cunning,  they  still  would 
have  held  empire.  But  "  whom  the  Gods  would  destroy  they 
first  make  mad." 

There  has  recently  been  an  extraordinary  conjunction. 
Two  men  have  departed  from  us  in  the  same  week.  The 
funeral  services  of  the  one  overlap  those  of  the  other.  They 
were  both  representative  men — he  of  Boston  and  he  of 
Buffalo.  Mr.  Fillmore,  in  private  life,  was  an  irreproachable 
man,  amiable,  kind,  and  universally  to  be  respected  ;  but  as 
a  public  man,  he  was  a  type  of  that  weakness  and  cowardice 
which  was  bred  in  the  North  by  the  accursed  influence 
of  slavery  in  the  South.  Sumner  was  the  representative  man 
of  that  reactionary  spirit  which  was  developed  by  liberty  con- 
tending for  its  old  rights  and  for  its  old  ground.  These  two 
men  have  died  almost  at  the  same  time  ;  and  although  I 
would  not  invade  the  sanctity  of  the  grave,  it  befits  his- 
torical reminiscence  that  these  two  antithetical  men,  one 
representing  the  old,  and  the  other  representing  the  new. 
within  the  period  of  a  week  going  out  from  the  generation 


CHARLES  SUMNER.  15 

of  the  living  among  the  dead,  should  be  mentioned  in  thia 
contrast 

Personally,  privately,  I  honor  Mr.  Fillmore ;  but  as  a 
public  man  he  had  no  political  conscience.  He  was  without 
any  apparent  sympathy  for  any  of  those  principles  on  which 
this  great  nation  was  founded.  He  gave  to  a  party — a  miser- 
able party — that  which  belonged  to  the  higher  interests  o} 
humanity  and  of  mankind.  He  gave  up  Liberty  to  be  cruci- 
fied between  Southern  Slavery  and  Northern  Mammon;  and 
then  washed  his  hands,  and  said,  "  I  am  innocent  of  the 
blood  of  this  just  person." 

Of  another  sort  was  Charles  Sumner.  By  his  birth,  by 
his  education,  by  his  social  surroundings,  he  was  fitted  to  be 
an  aristocrat ;  nor  was  his  disposition  averse  to  such  a  place 
and  title,  for  by  nature  he  was  self -considering.  He  was  so 
intense  in  his  own  convictions  as  to  become  arrogant,  and 
impose  his  views  upon  others  with  a  species  of  oratorical  des- 
potism. But  from  the  beginning  of  his  life  a  romantic  moral 
sense  allied  him  to  justice,  to  rectitude ;  and  since  in  our 
day  justice  was  most  flagrantly  violated  by  slavery,  his  love 
of  justice  and  of  truth  took  him,  to  his  honor  and  to  the 
glory  of  mankind,  out  from  his  class,  and  away  from  aristoc- 
racy, and  made,  essentially,  an  intellectual  democrat  of  him. 
Personally  he  never  was  democratic.  Intellectually  he  became 
so,  by  the  force  of  tho  struggle  of  the  day  in  which  he  lived. 

I  cannot  but  call  to  mind  how  strangely,  and  how  very 
nobly,  the  old  elect  families  of  the  commonwealth  of  the 
glorious  old  State  of  Massachusetts  behaved.  They  were  our 
only  aristocracy,  either  of  wealth  or  of  historic  association  ; 
and  yet,  what  more  noble  man  was  tli3re  in  Massachusetts 
than  Adams  ?  Where  have  we  found  a  man  more  nobly  allied 
to  liberty  in  the  day  of  its  peril  than  he  was  ?  What  higher 
credit  rested  upon  any  household  than  that  which  came  from 
the  name  of  Quincy  ?  Fathers  and  sons — how  true  they 
were  I  Aristocrats  do  you  call  them  ?  They  were  the  truest 
democrats. 

Longfellow,  naturally  tender  and  refined,  shrinking  from 
struggle  and  from  the  rude  rush  of  unwashed  multitudes,  did 
not  disdain  to  set  his  harp,  in  the  earliest  hours,  and  sing 


16  CHARLES  SUMNER. 

songs  of  liberty,  when  it  was  to  bring  upon  him  discords  and 
bowlings,  and  not  the  music  of  praise.  Emerson,  the  calm, 
the  observational,  the  coldly  reflecting,  had  not  warmth 
enough  to  make  him  an  enthusiast  in  religion  ;  but  he  had 
patriotism  and  humanity  enough  to  make  him  bear  witness 
in  the  teeth  of  slavery.  Whittier,  the  beautiful  singer  who 
wraps  indignation  and  wrath  about  with  such  gentleness  of 
spirit,  Quaker-like — he  could  write  Ichabod  on  the  name  of 
Webster,  and  doom  him  as  though  he  had  struck  him  with 
lightning,  and  yet  all  the  time  could  seem  as  sweet  as  the  Gos- 
pel. And  there  was  the  elegant  patrician,  the  son  of  aristo- 
cratic sires,  born  sovereign,  full  of  culture  and  of  exquisite 
refinement,  a  noble  man — Phillips,  who  put  aside  all  ambi- 
tions, who  devoted  himself  to  the  thankless  task  of  speaking 
to  mobs,  and  who,  through  good  report  and  through  evil 
report,  carried  his  lance,  and  never  once  had  it  shivered  or 
cast  vilely  away,  and  lived  to  see  triumphant  the  cause  which 
he  loved. 

In  this  band,  of  which  I  have  not  enumerated  the  half, 
belonged  Charles  Sumner ;  and  by  force  of  circumstances  he 
became  its  leader,  being  advanced  to  eminent  trusts.  He 
came  forth  at  the  time  when  such  men  as  Story,  Webster, 
Choate,  and  Everett  were  the  heroes  of  Massachusetts.  I 
remember  that  it  was  as  much  as  a  man's  life  was  worth  then 
to  speak  in  derogation  of  Daniel  Webster ;  but  how  do  men 
feel  respecting  him  to-day  ?  I  remember  when  Choate  was  as 
brilliant  as  a  star.  Now  he  is  as  a  meteor,  the  memory  of 
which,  has  gone  with  its  radiance.  And  Everett — his  last 
days  were  his  best  days  ;  and  all  that  he  did  in  elegant  litera- 
ture was  not  so  much  as  he  did  when  he  wrote  in  Mr.  Bon- 
ner's  Ledger  for  the  people  ;  because,  then,  for  the  first  time, 
I  think,  Edward  Everett  stood  among  common  folks,  in 
sympathy  with  them,  and  employed  his  culture,  and  reason, 
and  taste,  and  genius,  for  the  masses.  In  all  the  great  and 
masterful  struggles  for  liberty,  and  for  the  redemption  of  our 
land,  neither  Choate  nor  Webster  nor  Everett  was  found. 

Charles  Sumner  was  endowed  by  nature  with  a  noble 
presence.  He  was  physically  of  a  most  manly  type.  He  had 
an  admirably  constituted  mind  ;  and  yet,  he  was  not  a  child 


CHARLES  SUMNER.  tf 

of  genius.  His  learning,  joined  to  his  high  moral  sense,  con- 
stituted him  what  he  was.  He  was  a  made  man.  He  was  well 
versed  in  law,  in  general  literature,  in  history,  in  art,  and 
in  belles  left  res.  He  was  fitted  in  all  these  respects  to  carry  to 
his  sphere  in  the  United  States  Senate  great  influence  and 
great  power.  He  carried  there  an  industry  which  was  almost 
unmatched,  and  a  straightforwardness  and  unchanging  in- 
tent which  was  well-nigh  without  a  parallel.  The  meaning 
of  his  life,  the  force  of  all  his  enthusiasm,  was,  Bondage 
must  be  destroyed,  and  Liberty  must  be  established.  For 
that  he  became  a  martyr.  He  has  died,  lately,  and  from  the 
blow  that  felled  him  in  the  Senate  chamber,  that  darkened 
many  years  of  his  life,  and  that  gave  to  him  a  shock  which 
his  nervous  system  never  recovered  from.  Not  John  Brown 
himself,  nor  Lincoln,  was  more  a  martyr  for  liberty  than 
Charles  Sumner  has  been.  How  glorious  such  a  death  as  his  ! 
How  well  it  beseems  his  reputation  !  Better  so.  Now,  no 
pitying.  As,  when  a  man  is  knighted,  the  sovereign  takes 
the  sword  and  smites  him  on  the  shoulder,  and  says,  "  Rise 
up,  Sir  Charles  !"  so  the  club  that  smote  Sumner  on  the 
head  did  more  than  knight  him — it  brought  him  to  honor 
and  to  immortality. 

His  devotion,  his  suffering,  his  perseverance,  have  been 
without  faltering.  He  filled  nobly  the  place  where  God  put 
him.  And  God  worked  largely  by  him  in  the  restoration  of 
the  conscience  in  the  politics  and  statesmanship  of  this 
nation,  and  to-day  the  whole  nation  stands  still  to  honor  the 
name  of  Charles  Sumner. 

No  son  bears  his  name.  No  family  will  transmit  it  to  the 
future.  No  descendant  will  gaze  fondly  upon  his  pictured 
face,  and  say,  "  It  was  my  ancestor."  He  and  his  kindred 
are  cut  off.  But  the  old  State  that  gave  him  birth,  and  that 
he  served  so  nobly,  shall  cut  his  name  in  letters  so  deep  that 
time  itself  shall  never  rub  them  out ;  and  no  man  shall  ever 
road  the  history  of  these  United  States  of  America,  and  fail 
to  see,  shining  brightly,  with  growing  luster  through  the 
ages,  the  name  of  Charles  Sumner.  No  son,  no  daughter, 
weeps  for  him  ;  but  down  a  million  dusky  cheeks  there  are 
tears  trickling.  They  whom  he  served  weep  for  him.  He 


18  CHARLES  SUMNER. 

was  the  Moses  that  helped  to  bring  out  of  bondage  myriads 
of  the  oppressed,  who  to-day  feel  that  a  father  a^id  a  protector 
is  gone  up  from  among  them  ;  and  I  would  rather  have  the 
sympathy,  the  sorrow,  and  the  prayers  of  the  smitten  than  all 
the  eulogies  and  all  the  honors  of  strong  and  prosperous  men. 
He  has  lived  well.  He  has  died  well.  His  faults  will  go 
down  with  him.  His  virtues  will  live  after  him.  He 
joined  himself  to  whatever  was  best  in  his  time.  Now  he  is 
with  God. 

Young  men,  let  me  speak  a  few  words  to  you  in  respect 
to  some  parts  of  the  example  of  this  man  who  has  departed 
from  our  midst. 

First,  you  will  take  notice  that  he  identified  his  own 
interests  with  the  noblest  interests  of  his  country.  He  was 
not  a  vermin  statesman,  a  parasitic  statesman,  who  looked 
upon  his  country  but  as  a  carcass  from  which  he  might  draw 
blood.  In  a  venal,  corrupt  time,  he  held  trust  and  power 
unsullied  and  unsuspected.  Nothing  can  speak  better  for 
the  judgment  of  corrupt  men  than  the  fact  that  they  never 
dared  to  approach  him — for  Mr.  Sumner  said,  with  inimi- 
table naivety  ' '  People  speak  of  Washington  as  being  corrupt. 
I  do  not  believe  a  word  of  it ;  I  have  been  in  Washington 
fifteen  years  and  more,  and  I  have  never  seen  a  particle  of 
corruption  !"  No,  he  never  had.  He  was  the  last  man  that 
any  corrupt  schemer  dared  to  approach. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  men  should  be  greedy,  and  selfish, 
and  corrupt,  in  order  to  be  prosperous.  The  foremost  man 
of  his  time  has  died  with  white  hands  and  a  clean  heart. 

His  patriotism  sought  no  aggrandizement  of  his  nation  by 
defrauding  others.  His  was  not  a  belligerent  nor  a  selfish 
statesmanship.  He  attempted  to  associate  this  land  of  his 
love  with  the  best  interests  of  mankind  universally.  He  was 
an  advocate  of  peace.  He  preached  and  inspired  the  sense  of 
justice  among  nations.  Known  well  in  America  and  in 
Europe,  and  esteemed  among  statesmen  and  courts  and  law- 
yers everywhere,  his  voice  was  against  violence,  and  for  amity 
based  upon  justice.  His  ambition  was  not  for  the  "  manifest 
destiny  "  of  greediness ;  it  was  for  the  better  destiny  of  temper- 
ance, forbearance,  patience,  and  plenitude  of  power  for  the 


CHARLES  SUJfNER.  jg 

defense  of  ourselves,,  rat  yet  more  for  the  defense  of  the  poor 
and  of  the  needy.  Everywhere  aggression  met  his  deter- 
mined resistance.  He  was  a  statesman  because  he  based  all 
procedure  on  great  principles.  He  was  a  republican  states- 
man because  he  sought  the  welfare  of  all ;  and  not  of  a  privi- 
leged class.  In  his  case  this  is  the  more  noticeatte  because  his 
personal  habits  did  not  lead  him  to  love  association  with  com- 
mon people.  It  was  principle,  and  not  personal  attraction, 
chat  moved  him.  In  some  sense,  it  may  be  said  that  he 
denied  himself,  and  loved  those  who  were  beneath  him. 
M;iy,  I  think  he  thought  more  of  mankind  than  he  did  of 
men.  I  think  he  loved  the  principles  of  justice  and  of 
liberty,  rather  than  liberty  and  justice  themselves.  It  was 
because  liberty  in  practical  life  glorified  the  principle  of 
liberty,  that  he  loved  it. 

He  is  an  example  of  personal  integrity — an  example  not 
a  little  needed.  Much  assaulted,  much  misunderstood,  partly 
from  his  own  fault,  and  partly  from  circumstances,  neverthe- 
less he  was  prosperous,  and  had  an  illustrious  career,  never 
drooping,  and  never  really  blackened  by  any  taint.  He  has 
died  in  honor  ;  and  his  name  remains  a  glorious  name  in  the 
galaxy  of  American  patriots. 

He  was  a  man  of  courage,  and  of  fidelity  to  his  convic- 
tions. He  never  meanly  calculated.  He  never  asked  the 
question  whether  it  was  dangerous  to  speak.  He  was  one  of 
those  heroic  spirits  that  carried  the  fight  further  than  it  need- 
ed to  be  carried.  He  erred  by  an  excess  of  bravery.  He  was 
a  self-sacrificing  man,  giving  up  every  prospect  of  life  for  the 
sake  of  doing  his  duty  and  establishing  rectitude.  He  lost 
his  life,  and  found  it.  He  has  verified  the  truth  that  disin- 
terestedness is  not  inconsistent  with  the  highest  ambition. 
We  have  not  a  great  many  such  men.  There  is  not  a  disposi- 
tion, in  this  great,  trading,  thriving,  commercial  nation,  and 
in  this  time  of  greed,  to  believe  in  romantic  heroism  of  char- 
acter ;  and  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  called  to  the  considera- 
tion of  a  man  who  did  not  live  for  himself,  and  whose  nature, 
naturally  revolving  about  itself,  was  trained  by  the  principle 
of  justice  to  develop  itself  for  the  welfare  of  others.  I  can- 
not conceive  of  a  man  who  by  nature  befitted  the  courtly 


20  CHARLES  SUMNER. 

circle  better  than  he.  If  I  had  looked  through  all  the  old 
State  of  Massachusetts,  I  could  not  have  found,  it  seems  to 
me,  one  man  who  would  have  been  more  likely  to  ally  himself 
to  government,  to  party  and  to  illustrious  power  than  Charles 
Sumner;  and  it  was  a  marvel  of  the  providence  of  God 
to  see  this  man,  who  was  built  apparently  to  play  the  part  of 
a  sovereign  and  an  aristocrat,  filling  the  office  of  nurse  to  the 
slave  child ;  giving  his  brilliant  knowledge,  his  unwearied 
industry,  and  the  fruit  which  he  had  gathered  from  every 
field,  to  those  who  needed  succor ;  and  bringing  the  stores  of 
his  literary  attainments,  the  richness  of  his  historical  re- 
searches, and  the  accumulated  treasures  of  the  ages,  which 
were  his,  and  employing  them  to  build  better  huts  for  the 
emancipated  bondmen. 

If  he  does  not  rank  with  the  earlier  men  of  our  history  ; 
if  he  does  not  rank  with  the  inventive  geniuses  of  the  age  to 
which  he  belonged ;  yet,  no  man  in  America  has  ever  sur- 
passed Charles  Sumner  in  the  entire  dedication  of  the  gifts 
which  God  granted  him  to  the  service  of  the  poor  and  needy. 
Thousands  and  thousands  are  blessed  by  him  who  have  only 
heard  his  name  to  rail  at  it ;  for  while  he  secured  rights  to 
the  poor,  and  while  he  removed  disabilities  from  those  who 
were  enthralled,  not  only  the  particular  class  for  whom  he 
specially  labored  were  benefited,  but  every  honest  man  in 
the  country,  whatever  might  be  his  nationality,  participated 
in  the  bounty  which  he  wrought  out. 

He  has  gone  to  his  reward.  He  has  lived  a  noble  and 
spotless  life  on  earth.  He  has  not  been  a  hero  without  a 
blemish ;  and  yet,  his  blemishes  were  not  spots  of  taint. 
His  faults  were  weaknesses,  not  crimes  of  the  soul.  They 
were  intensities,  partaking  somewhat  of  fierceness,  engen- 
dered by  the  high  conflicts  through  which  he  passed. 
And  let  us  forget  them.  Let  us  bury  them,  as  we  bury  his 
noble  form,  dust  to  dust,  under  the  sod.  Let  us  remember 
his  virtue,  his  integrity,  his  self-devotion,  his  enormous  in- 
dustry, his  patient  humanity,  and  his  endurance  unto  the 
end  as  a  martyr  for  liberty. 


CHARLES  SUMNER.  21 


PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

MOST  merciful  God,  thou  art  our  fathers'  God.  They  trusted  in 
thee,  and  were  never  put  to  shame.  Thou  didst  in  darkness  bring 
light  to  them ;  in  danger,  succor ;  in  perplexity,  guidance.  By  them 
thou  didst  achieve  great  and  glorious  things  for  the  honor  of  thy 
name,  and  for  the  welfare  of  thy  cause  upon  earth. 

We  rejoice  that  our  lot  was  cast  in  this  land,  and  that  for  us  there 
has  been,  since  our  very  childhood,  the  ministration  of  truth  in  free- 
doom  and  liberty.  We  rejoice  that  we  have  been  reared  under  these 
benignant  skies,  and  in  this  abundant  land,  amidst  plenty.  We 
rejoice  that  thy  gracious  providence  hath  timed  and  guided  events 
for  the  furtherance  of  thy  honor,  and  for  the  welfare  of  humanity. 

Be  pleased,  Almighty  God,  to  breathe  upon  all  this  great  people 
the  same  wisdom,  the  same  forbearance,  the  same  courage,  the  same 
seeking  for  the  highest  treasure,  which  shall  bring  in  its  train  all 
earthly  good. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  be  pleased  to  bless  the  great  cit- 
izenship of  this  land,  mingled  together  a  rolling  mass,  deep  as  the  sea, 
and  as  wide,  and  multitudinous  as  its  drops.  Thou  hast  brought 
hither  this  great  people  that  they  may  be  grounded  in  knowledge, 
and  that  they  may  be  mighty  in  virtue.  Take  away  from  them,  we 
beseech  of  thee,  easily  besetting  sins.  Take  away  from  them  all 
temptations  to  lust,  and  intemperance,  and  greed,  and  avarice,  and 
corruption  of  every  kind.  Grant  that  they  may  be  obedient  under 
the  laws,  and  seek  for  rulers  men  that  are  wise  and  just. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  the  light  of  knowledge  to  all  the 
dark  mass  who  are  yet  in  our  midst.  We  pray  that  thou  wilt  kindle 
in  them  a  zeal  for  knowledge  that  shall  increase  until  it  shall  be  as 
the  burning  sun.  Give  daylight  to  this  great  nation,  we  pray  thee. 

We  pray  for  all  who  are  in  authority— for  all  judges,  magistrates, 
and  rulers — that  they  may  be  men  who  fear  God,  and  esteem  the 
interests  of  their  kind,  and  do  not  pursue  their  own  selfish  ambi- 
tions. We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  that  justice,  and  purity,  and 
truth  and  righteousness  may  prevail  everywhere. 

We  pray  that  this  nation  may  never  embroil  its  hands  in  blood 
needlessly.  May  it  be  kept  back  from  ambition,  from  invasion,  from 
all  mingling  with  the  affairs  of  men  which  shall  entangle  it  guiltily. 
May  it  fear  God.  May  it  love  mankind.  May  it  desire,  by  example:, 
and  by  all  its  legislation  and  policy,  to  pursue  the  things  which  are 
for  peace,  and  things  whereby  one  may  edify  another. 

We  pray  for  the  nations  of  the  earth,  that  they  may  learn  war  no 
more,  having  no  more  need  to  learn  war.  Grant  that  knowledge 
may  release  men  from  weakness,  and  that  they  may  become  too 
strong  to  be  handled  by  tyrants.  We  pray  for  the  uprising  of  men, 
not  by  revolutionary  passions,  and  not  by  the  rolling  tide  of  war. 
We  pray  that  thou  wilt  advance  the  light  of  knowledge,  and  more 
and  more  subdue  the  heart  to  the  amenities  of  love ;  and  more  and 
more  may  mankind  rejoice  that  so  they  may  be  free. 

And  bring  to  pass,  we  beseech  of  thee,  those  great  and  glorious 
promises  which  portend  the  latter-day  glory,  when  all  the  earth  shall 


22  CHARLES  SUMNER. 

dwell  in  peace,  when  light  shall  shine,  and  when  Christ  shall  come 
and  reign  a  thousand  years. 

And  to  thy  name  shall  be  the  praise,   Father,  Son  and  Spirit. 
Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

Our  Father,  we  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  bless  the  memory  oi 
those  who  are  gone— of  all  that  have  wrought  well,  and  of  all  that 
deserve  honor.  Grant  that  their  shadow  may  fall  upon  the  young 
who  are  coming  forward,  and  that  men  may  not  take  counsel  of  the 
basely  thrifty  and  prosperous ;  of  men  who  shall  die  in  their  success ; 
of  men  who  are  corrupted  by  their  gains.  We  pray  that  thou  wilt 
inspire  in  the  minds  of  the  young  a  loftier  conception  of  character, 
and  a  purpose  to  educate  themselves  disinterestedly  for  the  promo- 
tion of  the  welfare  of  their  fatherland.  Join  their  hearts  to  their 
race.  The  time  has  come  when  men  belong  to  all  mankind,  and 
when  all  mankind  are  brothers.  Grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  this  spirit 
may  be  more  .and  more  developed ;  and  may  the  blcod  of  martyrs 
nourish  it. 

We  pray  for  more  purity,  for  more  truth,  for  more  simplicity, 
for  more  straightforwardness,  for  more  exalted  aims,  for  riper 
principles.  Deliver  us  from  the  power  of  bad  men  and  evil  exam- 
ples, and  make  this  nation  as  great  as  it  has  promised  to  be. 

Accept,  we  pray  thee,  our  thanks.  Acccept  our  gratitude,  that 
this  church  has  been  permitted  to  stand  in  these  days  a  light  in  dark- 
ness. We  thank  thee  that  it  has  sent  out  words  of  truth  and  fidelity 
and  courage  for  the  right.  We  thank  thee  for  the  many  names  of 
those  who  have  gone  from  among  us.  We  thank  thee  for  those  who 
yet  remain,  and  rejoice  to  see  that  their  labor  has  brought  success. 
O  Lord,  let  this  church  live.  Let  it  be  for  ever  more  a  church  work- 
ing for  the  poor,  for  the  needy,  for  all  mankind.  May  the  time  never 
come  when  it  shall  be  held  by  shackles,  when  its  eyes  shall  be  dark- 
ened by  policies,  and  when  its  heart  shall  be  dry,  or  turned  into  nar- 
row channels.  We  pray  that  from  this  place  may  go  forth  the  word 
of  universal  truth  to  universal  man.  And  when  this  church  can  no 
longer  serve  God  in  the  interests  of  humanity,  may  it  die,  and  may 
something  better  spring  up  in  its  place. 

And  to  thy  name  shall  be  the  praise,  Father,  Son  and  Spirit,  for- 
evermore.  Amen. 


SAVED  BY  HOPE. 


"  For  we  are  saved  by  hope :  but.  hope  that  is  seen  is  not  hope :  f <v 
what  a  man  seeth,  why  doth  he  yet  hope  for?  But  if  we  hope  for 
tli :it  we  see  not,  then  do  we  with  patience  wait  for  it." — ROMANS 
viii.,  24,  25. 


We  are  said,  sometimes,  to  be  saved  by  faith.  It  is  said 
sometimes,  as  here,  that  we  are  saved  by  hope.  It  may  at 
first  seem  as  though  there  were  contrariety  because  there  is 
variety.  There  is  in  the  action  of  every  mind  never  any  one 
element  working  alone.  There  is  a  combination  of  elements 
or  of  faculties  that  lead  or  guide ;  and  when  they  are  all 
congenial  and  co-operative,  and  stand  connected  with  the 
certainty  of  men's  right  living  and  right  dying,  then  you 
may  say,  indifferently,  of  them  all,  that  you  are  guided  and 
saved  either  by  one  or  by  another,  since  they  all  are  present 
in  this  blessed  partnership  of  salvation.-*""" 

One  thing  is  sure,  that  of  all  books  which  ever  were 
written,  there  is  none  that  tends  to  project  a  man's  thoughts 
into  the  future,  and  to  thrust  a  man  forward,  so  much  as  the 
New  Testament.  Never  was  there  a  book  that,  directly  or 
indirectly,  opened  elements  which  belonged  to  the  future  as  it 
does.  Never  was  there  a  book  which  laid  down  a  schedule- 
for  conduct  and  character  which  of  itself  necessitated  for- 
ward action  of  the  mind  and  feeling  so  much  as  the  New 
Testament.  Never  was  there  a  book  whose  latent  and  undis- 
closed philosophy  implied  so  strongly  as  does  the  New  Testa- 
ment the  on-going  of  men,  or  their  opening  and  development, 
which  is  always  a  work  toward  the  future. 

Now,  hope  covers  all  that  ground  which  the  mind  occu- 

SPNIIAY  MORNING.  March  22.  1'74.     I.I.J-SON  :  Kotn.  vlll.,  15-39.     HYMNS:  (Ply- 
mouth Collection) .  N.IS.  130.  1.2JO,  tMX 


26  SAVED  BY  HOPE. 

pies  in  looking  into  the  future  for  certain  great  values  or 
results — not  merely  in  forelooking,  but  in  looking  forward 
with  special  and  concurrent  joy. 

/Hope  is  distinctively  and  universally  recognized  as  a  pleas- 
ure-bearing faculty  ;  and  when  men  are  said  to  be  "  savec 
hope,"  it  is  meant  that  they  are  saved  by  a  generic  exercise 
or  conduct  of  the  mind  by  which  it  works  forward  for 
itself  toward  its  destiny — toward  all  the  things  which  it 
esteems  most  highly,  and  which  it  most  desires.  And  it 
works  not  bitterly,  nor  with  acerbity,  nor  with  any  sense 
or  feeling  except  that  of  cheer,  and  happiness  ;  and  peculiar 
happiness — happiness  that,  although  it  stands  in  a  certain 
relation  to  our  past  experience,  looks  at  the  future  as  a  sort 
of  escape  from  the  present,  as  a  realization  of  our  ideal,  and 
as  something  which  is  higher  and  better,  and  which  removes 
us  further  from  trouble  and  vexation  in  this  world.  It  is  a 
mood  of  mind  which,  while  it  does  not  refuse  the  past  as  a 
•  source  of  knowledge  and  guidance,  and  as  a  sphere  in  which 
lie  great  duties  that  are  incumbent  upon  us,  yet  furnishes 
men  with  spirit  and  aptitude  for  present  living  by  opening  in 
/  them  such  a  sense  of  their  future  as  shall  bring  upon  them 
I  new  joys  ;  joys  from  fresh  sources  ;  joys  not  tainted  with 
/  evil ;  joys  springing  from  ideal  conceptions  ;  joys  as  pure  to 
the  soul  as  the  dews  are  to  the  flowers  in  summer. 

This  saying  that  we  are  " saved  by  hope"  is  only,  as  I 
have  already  intimated,  a  conformity  of  the  spiritual  philoso- 
phy of  the  New  Testament  to  the  actual  facts  of  man's 
existence,  and  to  the  problem  of  life.  For  men  here  are 

-  —never  born  at  their  full.  They  never  grow  up  in  any  assign- 
able number  of  years  to  a  perfect  condition.  There  is  a  side 
(and  that  is  the  side  on  which  they  are  almost  always  looked 
at)  where  men  are  imperfect  and  sinful ;  and  they  mourn 
their  imperfection  and  sinfulness  :  but  there  is  another  side 

_a^-which  men  ought  to  bear  in  mind,  which  is  fully  recognized 
in  the  New  Testament,  and  which  God  certainly  bears  in 
inind — namely,  the  side  on  which,  out  of  limitation  and 
imperfection  and  even  sinfulness,  is  growing  a  constitution 
of  things  which  is  developing  better  and  better  ends,  better 
and  better  characters,  better  and  better  conditions. 


SAVED  B*   HOPE.  27 

It  pleases  me  to  see  my  oak-trees  growing.  I  wish  they 
would  grow  faster  and  become  larger.  I  should  be  very  glad 
if  I  could  make  them  grow  a  hundred  years  in  one,  so  that  I 
could  sit  under  tbem  as  I  sat  under  the  great  live-oaks  in  the 
South.  But  they  will  not  grow  in  any  such  way  as  that ;  I 
see  that  they  are  little  things  ;  and  when  I  think  of  big  oaks, 
I  say  to  mine,  "  What  poor  little  sniveling  things  you  are  ! 
I  low  insufficient  you  are  as  trees  ! "  Nevertheless,  I  do  not 
despise  them  because  they  have  not  yet  grown.  I  say  to 
them,  "  Grow  on.  You  will  come  to  it  by  and  by.  You 
have  it  in  you."  And  from  year  to  year  they  grow  more  and 
more  ;  and  in  time  they  shall  become  large  trees,  with  wide- 
spreading  branches,  underneath  which  men  shall  sit,  in  the 
boughs  of  which  birds  shall  rest,  and  which  shall  be  crowned 
with  beauty  and  majesty  ;  for  the  summer  shall  caress  them,— — 
and  the  winter  shall  make  them  strong  by  its  storms,  and  in 
every  way  natureis  engaged  working  upon  them  to  develop 
them.  I  shoulcfbe  a  poor  dendrologist  if  I  walked  every 
day  along  the  border  of  my  littk  paradise  on  the  hill,  and 
flouted  my  trees.  "  Oh  !  this  r  an  onus  arboris.  What  an 
apology  for  a  tree  it  is  !  This  is  an  Austrian  pine  ;  now  I 
have  seen  the  Austrian  pine  on  Austrian  mountains,  and  this 
is  hardly  even  an  apology  for  it."  If  then  I  said  of  my  ash- 
tree,  "  Well,  that  is  a  poor  ash.  Why,  I  could  almost  jump 
over  it ;  whereas  the  true  ash  of  the  field  is  so  high  that  the 
birds  can  scarcely  fly  to  the  top  of  it ;"  if  I  thus  went  on 
calling  my  trees  to  nought  because  they  were  so  thin  in  \ 
stem,  so  narrow  in  spread,  so  low  in  height,  so  imperfect  / 
and  crude,  how  unfair  and  unreasonable  I  should  be.  I  do  -^ 
not  do  so  at  all.  I  go  around  among  my  trees,  and  say, 
'•'  Ah  !  howmuch  larger  you  are  than  you  used  to  be  !  How 
you  are  growing !"  And  I  imagine  how  much  they  will  have 
grown  when  they  are  five  years  old.  They  almost  touch  each 
other  now  ;  and  I  say  to  myself,  "  The  time  will  come  when 
some  of  these  trees  will  have  to  come  out  in  order  to  give  the 
others  a  chance  to  spread,  and  when  those  that  remain  will 
have  to  be  pruned."  I  take  as  much  pleasure  with  my 
quarter-ways  as  I  should  if  they  were  half-ways  ;  and  T  shall 
t:ike  as  much  pleasure  w!th  my  half-ways  as  I  should  if  they 


28  SAVED  BY  HOPE. 

were  whole-growths — and  more  ;  for  if  they  were  full-grown, 
I  should  enjoy  the  comfort  of  them,  but  I  should  not  have 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  them  grow,  or  of  cultivating  them  ; 
for  when  a  tree  is  finished  the  satisfaction  of  tending  it  and 
nursing  it  is  gone.  You  can  get  some  other  satisfaction 
from  it,  but  not  that. 

— •  Now,  I  look  upon  men  as  starting  in  growth  and  develop- 
ing toward  purity.  That  is  the  divine  idea.  There  is 
nothing  that  requires  so  much  to  bring  it  to  its  own  nature 
as  man — for  man's  nature  lies  not  at  the  beginning,  but  at 
the  end.  It  is  not  what  he  is  in  the  seed  form  that  is  his  true 
nature,  but  what  he  is  when  he  is  carried  to  the  utmost 
extension  that  belongs  to  the  mind.  That  which  men  call 
nature  in  a  man  is  not  his  true  nature.  Grace  is  trying  to 
bring  men  back,  or  to  carry  them  forward,  to  their  real  nature. 
In  such  an  economy  as  that  which  prevails  in  this  world,  the 
philosophical  problem  of  human  life  is,  how  to  unfold  man- 
kind, and  bring  them  to  their  true  perfected  nature  ;  and  in 
the  solution  of  that  problem,  as  the  fundamental  and  govern- 
ing element,  hope  is  precisely  that  which  men  want.  Faith 
is  of  the  same  nature.  Trust,  also,  is  oi  ihe  same  nature. 
All  of  them  are,  as  it  were,  golden  cords  which  lead  up  to 
the  Throne ;  and  by  them  men  draw  themselves  into  the 
future.  So  that  if  it  be  faith,  faith  takes  us  out  of  the  pres- 
ent and  the  visible  to  the  invisible  and  the  future  ;  or,  if  it 
be  trust,  trust  takes  us  from  the  region  of  the  past  and 
advances  us  upward  and  forward ;  and  if  we  are  saved  by 
hope,  it  will  be  because  hope  is  pleasure-bearing,  and  has  in 
it  encouragement,  sweetness,  and  enjoyment.  It  is  that 
which  carries  us  away  from  the  past,  and  lifts  us  out  of  the 
present,  and  brings  us  to  the  glowing  and  glorious  future. 

The  apostle  says,  "We  are  saved  by  hope  ;  but  hope  that 
is  seen  is  not  hope."  When  you  look  upon  the  attainments 
that  you  have  made,  upon  that  which  you  have  achieved, 
you  cannot  properly  say,  "That  is  hope."  Sometimes, 
however,  the  expression  is  conventionally  used  in  that 
way.  Sometimes  persons  say,  "  I  have  a  hope,"  meaning 
that  they  have  gone  through  a  certain  experience.  Men  may 
with  propriety  say,  "  1  shall' be  saved  by  hope,"  meaning  that 


SAVED  BY  HOPE. 

they  have  a  hope  that  through  God  they  will  be  saved  by    /I  > 
and  by  ;   but  sometimes  they  use  that  expression,  meaning 
that  they  have  accomplished  or  wrought  out  that  which  is  in 
the  nature  of  a  hope  to  them ;  and  yet  Paul  says  that  what 
you  already  have  is  not  hope.     He  says  that  hope  is  some- 
thing which  lies  in   the   future.     "  Hope  that  is  seen  is 
not  hope  ;  for  what  a  man  seeth,  why  doth  he  yet  hope  for  ?" 
What  futurity  is  there  in  that  which  is  perfected,  and  which 
stands  in  the  present  ?     "  But  if  we  hope  for  that  we  see  not 
[that,  which  is  not  yet  developed  ;  that  which  is  to  be  grown 
into  and  reached  forward  to  ;  that  which  lies  beyond],  then 
do  we  with  patience  wait  for  it."    Why?    Because  hope  is  i 
of  such  a  nature  that  it  gives  impetus  and  courage  by  which  1 
we  are  rendered  willing  to  abide  delay  until  the  time  for  realV^ 
izatioa.  or  achievement  comes. 

A  boy  would  be  regarded  as  very  foolish,  who,  trying  to 
learn  to  carve,  should  be  so  discontented  and  so  dissatisfied 
with  his  hand  that  he  would,  as  it  were,  throw  the  clumsy 
thing  away,  and  say,  "It  can't  learn  its  trade  !  it  can't  do 
anything  !"  The  master  would  say  to  the  pupil,  under  such 
circumstances,  "  My  foolish  boy,  you  will  come  to  it  by-and-V-. 
Work  and  wait.  My  hand  was  clumsy  as  yours  when  I  began." 

An  eminent  painter  goes  into  his  studio,  and  finds  the 
young  man  who  has  been  apprenticed  to  him  in  a  state  of 
towering  indignation,  and  beating  his  hand ;  and  he  says  to 
him,  "  What  is  the  matter  with  your  hand  ?"  The  young  man 
replies,  "  I  have  been  trying  to  paint  with  it,  but  it  smeared 
the  canvass  with  the  colors  ;  all  goes  wrong,  and  I  am  tired 
of  trying."  What  would  you  think  of  a  pjivou  who  was  be- 
ginning to  learn  to  paint,  if  he  became  vexed  with  hi:: 
IUIH.],  and  abused  it  because  it  committed  blunders,  and 
could  not  do  its  work  perfectly  ?  And  yet,  persons  think 
thev  are  doing  God's  service  when  they  abuse  their  faculties, 
;r.ui  call  themselves  names,  saying,  "  I  am  such  a  sinner  ! 
Oh,  I  never  do  anything  right.  I  have  no  gracious  affections. 
This  old  filthy  soul  of  mine,  this  mean  conscience  of  mine, 
this  erring  disposition  of  mine — what  shall  I  do  with  it?" 
They  would  like  to  kick  it  out  and  crucify  it. « 

But  if  it  is  wrong  to  do  so  by  tlic  hand  or  the  foot  be- 

t  J^     A        t  i 


30  SAVED  BY  HOPE. 

fore  there  has  been  time  or  opportunity  for  skill  to  be  devel- 
oped in  it,  how  much  more  is  it  wrong  to  do  so  by  a  faculty 
wbich  has  to  go  through  a  much  longer  apprenticeship,  which 
requires  great  patience,  and  which  cannot  come  to  symmet- 
rical union  with  the  other  faculties  except  by  a  protracted 
experience  of  joy  and  sorrow,  of  burden-bearing  and  pleasur- 
able emotion,  of  all  manner  of  fare  by  the  way  ?  Does  it  take 
scores  of  years  to  make  an  efficient  veteran  or  an  able  general? 
and  ought  it  not  to  take  as  long  to  make  a  soldier  of  the 
Lord,  who  faces  no  visible  antagonist,  and  the  weapons  of 
whose  warfare  are  spiritual,  and  whose  enemies  are  in  high 
places — the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  leagued  darkness, 
concealed  temptations,  hidden  evils  of  every  kind  ? 

We  patiently  wait  for  perfectness  in  any  direction,  if 
we  have  foresight  and  hope  that  God,  in  the  great  scheme  by 
which  he  governs  the  world,  means  that  we  shall  be  steadily 
developed,  and  shall  go  on  and  on,  to  higher  and  higher  at- 
tainments. "We  are  patient  with  our  pride,  not  in  the  sense  of 
pampering  it,  but  in  the  sense  of  waiting  for  the  more  perfect 
subjugation  of  it  by  love.  We  are  patient  with  our  vanity, 
not  blinding  ourselves  to  its  weakness,  but  by  culture  con- 
verting it  into  a  noble  sentiment.  We  are  patient  with  irri- 
table tempers,  not  because  we  wish  to  excuse  them  or  justify 
them,  but  because  the  fire  that  is  in  them  can  be  put  to  the 
noblest  uses. 

So  we  wait  patiently,  or  should,  along  the  line  of  our 
whole  life,  and  look  forward,  saying  to  ourselves,  "  I  live  by 
hope  ;  and  every  step  forward  is  preparatory  to  the  next.  I 
live  by  faith  ;  and  every  stage  of  excellence  that  is  developed 
in  me  is  a  prophecy  of  better  things  in  the  future.  I  live 
with  my  thought  projected  onward  and  upward.  I  throw 
forward  my  life,  and  run  after  it." 

As  sometimes  during  a  battle,  in  a  crisis,  when  the  fight 
is  hottest  and  the  chances  are  uncertain,  the  color-bearer 
hurls  the  flag  into  the  midst  of  the  enemy,  so  as  to  in- 
spire the  soldiers  to  rush  forward  and  rescue  it,  and  bring  it 
back  ;  so  men,  in  the  conflicts  of  life,  throw  into  the  future 
their  hope  of  all  that  is  dear  to  them,  of  fidelity,  of  purity, 
of  Christian  attainment,  that  they  may  more  earnestly,  more 


SAVED  BY  HOPE.  31 

zealously  and  more  courageously  press  forward  after  it,  and 
finally  attain  it. 

I  remark,  then,  first,  that  any  presentation  of  the  Gospel  "\ 
which  does  not  produce  a  cheerful  forelooking  is  characteris-  Y^ 
tically  defective.  All  ways  of  preaching  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
which,  as  their  characteristic  result,  inspire  men  with  despond- 
ency and  with  an  overpowering  sense  of  difficulty,  tending  to 
discouragement  and  making  the  heart  gloomy,  are  untrue  to 
the  spirit  and  genius  of  that  Gospel.  I  cannot  conceive  ol 
any  burlesque  more  grim,  or  any  hemispheric  and  continental 
jest  more  hideous,  than  that  which  has  been  perpetrated  by 
the  mountebanks  of  time,  where  men  have  been  taught  that 
they  are  brought  into  this  world  on  livid  errands  of  eternal 
damnation,  and  that  all  things  are  fixed  both  in  the  secret 
counsels  of  God  and  in  the  everlasting  overt  decrees  of  God, 
holding  them  more  mightily  than  a  lion's  paw  holds  the 
mouse  ;  and  that,  do  what  they  will,  there  is  the  line  laid 
down  for  them,  and  they  are  impelled  along  that  line.  Just 
as  the  shuttle  is  impelled,  by  irresistible  power,  to  carry  the 
thread  which  is  put  into  it,  and  weave  the  fabric  that  has 
been  designed,  it  being  never  consulted ;  so  it  has  been 
taught  that  men  were  sent  into  this  world  to  carry  on,  with- 
out volition  of  their  own,  and  in  spite  of  them,  a  process 
tending  towards  their  eternal  damnation.  And  this  has  been 
called  "Good  News"!  There  is  where  the  jest  comes  in. 
Why,  out  of  the  Egyptian  caves  they  had  a  doctrine  of  fate 
which  was  as  good  as  that.  All  through  Roman  life,  back 
into  Tuscan  life  from  whence  much  of  its  spirit  came,  there 
was  a  doctrine  of  the  future  which  was  hideous  enough  with- 
out any  further  intensifying  of  its  hideousness.  Nature  had 
groaning  enough  ;  the  great  animal-bearing  globe  had  fierce- 
ness enough  and  inevitableness  enough  ;  and  to  add  to  that 
groaning,  to  that  fierceness  and  to  that  inevitableness  a  doc- 
trine which  should  enslave  the  intellects  of  men  so  that  they 
could  not  extricate  themselves,  and  then  to  preach  that  as  the 
truth  of  God  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  call  it  "Good 
News  " — was  there  ever  another  such  awful  jest ! 

A  jailor  goes  to  a  prisoner — the  father  of  a  household — a 
man  full  of  the  purest  love  to  his  companion  and  children, 


32  SAVED  BY  HOPE. 

who  has  lost  all  his  friends,  and  all  his  property — a  jailor  goes 
to  such  a  man,  smiling  and  joyful,  and  says,  "  My  dear  friend, 
wake  up  !  I  have  something  to  teil  you  that  you  would  like  to 
hear."  The  man,  startled,  wakes  himself,  and  says,  "  What ! 
am  I  pardoned  ?"  "  Oh,  better  than  that !"  "Well,  am  I 
to  have  a  new  trial  ?"  "  No,  better  than  that ;  the  Court  has 
taken  your  case  into  consideration,  and  has  decreed  that  you 
shall  be  cut  into  inch-pieces,  and  that  your  wife  and  children 
shall  be  permitted  to  sit  in  a  balcony  where  they  can  see  the 
operation  and  rejoice  over  it "  ! 

Do  you  tell  me  that  God  and  the  angels  are  to  look  into 
hell  and  see  the  torments  of  men  who  were  foreordained  from 
all  eternity  to  reprobation,  and  that  they  will  look  approv- 
ingly upon  the  scene,  and  take  comfort  in  it  ?  and  do  you 
call  it  "good  news"  ?  and  do  you  send  it  out  into  the  world 
and  tell  men  to  preach  it  everywhere  ?  Why,  the  devil  could 
have  preached  that  without  any  help.  He  did  not  need  any 
help  or  special  skill  for  that. 

Any  presentation  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
that  does  not  come  to  the  world  as  the  balmy  days  of  May 
come  to  the  yet  unlocked  northern  zones  ;  any  way  of  preach- 
ing the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  which  is  not  as  full  of 
sweetness  as  the  voice  of  the  angels  when  they  sang  at  the 
Advent ;  any  mode  of  making  known  the  proclamation  of 
mercy  which  has  not  at  least  as  many  birds  as  there  are  in 
June,  and  as  many  flowers  as  the  dumb  meadow  knows  how 
to  bring  forth  ;  any  method  of  bringing  before  men  the  doc- 
trine of  salvation  which  does  not  make  every  one  feel, 
"  There  is  hope  for  me — in  God,  in  the  divine  plan,  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  organization  of  human  life  and  society," 
is  spurious,  is  a  slander  on  God,  and  is  blasphemy  against 
love. 

[At  this  point  the  congregation  interrupted  Mr.  Beech er  with  an 
unmistakable  and  pronounced  manifestation  of  applause,  and  then 
suddenly  stopped,  as  if  alarmed  or  ashamed.  Mr.  Beeoher  smiled, 
and  said :] 

[Some  folks  will  be  very  much  troubled  at  that.  Don't ! 
We  are  so  refined  in  modern  times  that  when,  in  the  church 
and  on  the  Sabbath-day,  truths  are  spoken  that  make  a  man's 


SAVED  BY  HOPE.  33 

soul  jump,  and  give  expression  to  its  emotions,  people  think 
it  desecrates  Sunday,  and  dishonors  the  house  of  God.  I  do 
not  know  what  they  would  have  done  if  they  had  sat  and 
heard  Christ  deliver  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  when  every- 
body interrupted  him  with  questions,  and  there  was  talking 
backward  and  forward.  I  do  not  know  what  they  would  have 
done  if  they  had  listened  to  the  preaching  of  the  golden- 
mouthed  Chrysostom,  when  the  people  felt  much,  and  freely 
gave  utterance  to  their  feelings.  I  do  not  know  why  Sunday 
is  too  good  for  joy,  or  why  a  church  is  too  good  for  the  ex- 
pression of  it,  if  it  be  a  genuine  impulse.  /  like  it ;  but 
then,  do  not  let  my  likings  mislead  you;  for  you  may  get 
into  the  newspapers !] 

There  is  an  error  in  preaching  the  Gospel  which  springs 
from  a  worthy  motive,  but  which  is  mischievous — namely, 
that  of  representing  human  nature  as  being  so  sinful,  and 
the  work  of  regeneration  as  being  so  difficult  and  so  uncer- 
tain, as  to  throw  doubt  over  the  minds  of  men.  There  is,  it 
is  true,  a  sense  in  which  our  Master  did  that.  He  said, 
•'  Many  are  called,  but  few  are  chosen."  He  said,  "Straight 
and  narrow  is  the  way  to  life,  and  few  go  in  it ;  but  broad  is 
the  way  to  death,  and  many  throng  it."  He  said,  "The 
kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent  take  it 
by  force."  When  asked,  "Are  there  many  that  shall  be 
saved  ?"  he  said,  "  Strive  ye  to  enter."  He  said  all  those 
things  ;  and  I  say  them,  too — that  is,  to  men  who  are  care- 
less, to  men  who  think  they  are  going  into  the  higher  life 
without  effort,  without  development,  without  transformation, 
without  divine  inspiration,  without  culture.  I  say  it  to  men 
who,  in  the  great  thundering  street,  are  rushing  hither  and 
thither,  heedless  of  the  higher  life.  But  to  any  congregation 
that  are  enough  interested  in  the  subject  of  religion  to  give 
their  hour  for  instruction  in  it,  I  would  not  say  it,  in  any 
such  way  as  to  shut  the  door  of  possibility.  I  would  not 
say  it  to  men  who  are  willing  to  hear  the  truth  preached. 
Is  the  work  of  God  on  the  human  soul  so  uncertain  that 
when  men  go  to  hear  the  Gospel  a  minister  is  justified  in  de- 
claring it  so  as  to  leave  the  impression  on  their  minds 
supercautiousness  and  utter  discouragement  ? 


34  SAVED  BY  HOPE. 

I  hold  that  man,  by  nature,  is  low  enough.  He  is  an 
animal ;  and  I  hold  that  only  by  unfoldings  does  he  come  to 
be  a  social  being,  a  reasonable  being,  a  moral  being,  a  spiri- 
tual being.  I  hold  that  every  man  needs  the  inoculation  of 
the  divine  Soul  before  that  which  joins  him  to  the  divine 
nature  has  been  developed  in  him.  As  there  must  be  the 
impregnation  of  pollen  before  you  can  have  fruit,  so  I  hold 
that  there  must  be  the  divine  impregnation  before  divine 
attributes  can  be  brought  forth  in  man.  But  I  hold  that  that 
which  Jesus  taught  in  the  Gospel  was  concurrent  with  the 
divinely  natural  tendencies  of  men.  I  hold  that  these 
natural  tendencies  lie  in  the  plane  of  God's  original  decrees 
and  intents,  and  that  they  are  in  accordance  with  the  pur- 
pose and  the  wish  of  a  guiding  Providence.  And  I  hold 
that  the  impression  which  is  produced  on  a  congregation 
should  be  one  of  hope,  and  not  of  caution,  nor  of  fear,  nor 
of  hesitancy. 

There  is  an  impression  among  persons  in  respect  to  relig- 
ion, that  one  may  go  through  a  revival,  and  enter  the  church 
as  a  Christian  person,  and  be  all  right ;  but  that  it  is  a  thing 
so  out  of  the  ordinary  line,  and  requiring  such  a  preparation 
and  such  influences,  that  there  is  not  much  hope  of  your  suc- 
ceeding if  you  undertake  to  become  a  Christian. 

Now,  I  say  that  to  every  honest  man,  and  every  rightly  in- 
clined man,  living  in  his  household  in  normal  relations  and 
endeavoring  to  live  correctly,  who,  looking  forward  into  the 
future,  undertakes  to  guide  himself  according  to  the  great 
platform  and  law  of  divine  love,  it  not  only  is  not  a  matter 
of  doubt,  but  it  is  a  matter  inevitable,  that  he  will  go  right 
if  he  holds  to  his  resolution ;  it  is  as  certain  as  that 
if  you  sow  in  your  garden  seeds  of  flowers  that  belong 
to  our  zone  you  will  have  flowers.  Now  and  then  there 
will  be  a  season  when  the  seeds  will  rot  in  the  ground : 
and  there  are  many  sermons  that  come  to  naught ;  and 
yet,  as  even  such  seeds  add  something  to  the  richness 
of  the  soil,  so  there  is  something  even  in  these  sermons. 
There  is  foolishness  in  them,  at  least.  Paul  speaks,  you 
know,  of  "the  foolishness  of  preaching."  But,  as  a  rule, 
seeds,  when  sown,  grow  ;  and  it  is  worth  any  man's  while  to 


SAVED  BY  HOPE.  35 

have  a  garden.  There  is  no  mail  so  poor  that  he  cannot  afford 
to  have  some  flowers  ;  and  every  man  who  takes  the  pains 
to  sow  the  seeds,  and  avails  himself  of  light  and  warmth 
from  the  sun,  and  of  moisture  from  the  clouds,  may  confi- 
dently expect  to  have  flowers  and  fruits.  And  yet,  not  more 
certain  is  the  wise  husbandman  of  his  harvests,  than  is  the 
honest-minded  man  of  going  right,  if  he  wants  to  be  right, 
and  puts  himself  into  the  conditions  which  the  Scripture 
recommends. 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  revile  the  memory  of  godly  men 
who  stood  as  pillars  in  the  past ;  but  I  bear  in  mind  some 
instances  of  men  who  preached  the  Gospel  with  such  dolorous 
caution  that  you  would  think  the  bell  inviting  you  to  the 
marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb  was  a  funeral  bell,  and  that  the 
paean  of  victory  sounding  afar  off  through  the  air  was  a 
requiem.  They  were  good  men.  They  were  splendid  old 
fellows  in  many  respects.  If  they  had  been  husbandmen  or 
mechanics  or  soldiers  or  professional  men  outside  of  theology 
and  preaching,  they  would  have  adorned  their  business.  They 
were  grand  specimens  of  their  time.  And  yet,  when  men 
ventured  to  go  to  them,  saying,  "I  think  I  am  moved  to  con- 
verse on  the  subject  of  religion,  and  ask  guidance,"  they 
looked  solemn,  and  in  a  sepulchral  tone  said,  "  0  my  friend, 
if  God's  spirit  is  striving  with  you,  you  are  in  a  very  danyer- 
<>tt*  place.  Now,  my  advice  is  that  you  go  home,  and  look 
well  into  this  matter.  It  is  an  awful  thing  to  be  self-deceived. 
It  is  an  awful  thing  to  grieve  the  spirit  of  God."  I,  too, 
think  that  self-deception  and  grieving  the  spirit  of  God  are 
awful  things  ;  and  it  is  not  necessary  caution  that  I  object  to  : 
it  is  representing  to  the  young  mind  that  the  characteristic 
element  of  religion  is  danger,  whereas  the  characteristic  ele- 
ment of  religion  is  hope. 

If  the  truer  spirit  of  the  Gospel  should  speak,  what  would 
it  say?  "  0  ye,  that  know  how  to  love  father  and  mother,  there 
has  begun  in  you  that  divine  quality  which  can  teach  you  to 
love  God.  0  ye,  who  have  nourished  virtue  and  who  know 
what  it  is  to  deny  yourselves  on  every  side  that  virtue  may 
flourish,  you  have  the  germinant  form  of  that  which  may,  by 
the  light  of  God's  countenance,  be  ripened  into  better  forms. 


36  SAVED  BY  HOPE. 

0  ye,  that  have  rays  of  hope  now  and  then  gleaming  through 
fear  and  caution,  you  are  in  the  line  of  unfolding."  This  is 
what  God's  spirit  says. 

-^  Hope,  then,  is  the  characteristic  element  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ.  There  are  temptations,  there  are  obstacles,  there  are 
difficulties,  and  there  are,  in  special  cases,  reasons  in  the 
constitutions  of  men,  why  they  should  be  held  to  caution  as 
a  means  of  inciting  and  stimulating  them ;  but  no  man 
preaches  the  Gospel  by  putting  out  the  light  of  hope,  and 
saying,  "When  you  have  done  so  much,  and  so  much,  and 
(  so  much,  and  gone  so  far,  and  so  far,  and  so  far,  then  I  will 
kindle  that  light  again."  It  ought  to  shine  from  the  begin- 
ning, and  all  the  while. 

...     -     _,^     .          O'  ->. 

^*^\And  I  say  to  every  person,  It  is  a  dismal  tiling  to  be 
without  God  ;  it  is  a  joyful  thing  to  live  in  the  hope  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  there  is  no  reason  why  any  young 
man  or  maiden,  or  any  old  man  or  matron,  should  not  be  a 
follower\of  the  Saviour.  To  yield  him  allegiance  is  in  accord- 
ance with\  your  right  nature.  God  designed  that  you  should 
be  religious.  Every  man  who  is  without  religion  has  left  a 
large  part,  knd  the  best  part,  of  himself  unopened  and  unused. 
All  the  forces  of  your  constitution,  all  the  elements  of  God's 
law  and  schefne,  all  the  tendencies  of  divine  providence,  and 
all  those  things^ which  enable  a  man  to  work  out  his  own  sal- 
vation with  fear  and  trembling  because  it  is  God  that  works 
in  him,  should  inspire  hope. 

All  those  nice 'analyses  which  men  make  of  themselves, 
and  all  that  sitting  of  the  court  in  which  the  conscience  is 
justice-,  to  determine  whether  a  man  may  or  may  not  rejoice, 
is  not  in  accordance  with  the  true  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  Con- 
science is  a  very  good  faculty,  but  it  has  been  wrongly  esti- 
mated. It  has  generally  been  considered  chief- just' ce  ;  but 
no,  it  is  not  chief-justice,  for  a  great  many  rea'sons.  No 
other  one  faculty  can  be  tampered  with  and  bribed  as  the 
conscience  can ;  and  a  man  who  calls  conscience  to  the  chief- 
justice's  chair,  and  says,  "That  will  determine  right  and 
wrong  for  me,"  commits  a  great  mistake.  There  is  nothing 
that  conscience  works  more  with  than  will ;  and  there  is  no 
court  in  which  the  chief-justice  should  be  under  the  domiu- 


SAVED  BY  HOPE.  37 

ion  of  the  will.  Conscience  is  one  of  the  most  fiery,  sensitive, 
nervous,  and  fault-finding  of  the  faculties.  It  led  Paul  to 
go  clear  to  Damascus  and  persecute  the  people  of  God ;  and 
he  thought  that  he  was  doing  right.  Conscience  has  kindled 
more  fires,  turned  more  breaking-wheels,  put  more  men  on 
racks,  extinguished  more  humanities  and  equities,  and  filled 
the  world  fuller  of  mournings,  than  any  other  one  faculty  of 
the  human  soul. 

Now,  nothing  is  worthy  to  be  chief-justice  that  can  be 
tampered  with  as  the  conscience  can.  There  is  one  thing 
that  cannot  be  tampered  with,  and  that  is  the  spirit  of  di- 
vinely inspired  love.  The  easiest  men  in  the  world  to  man-i. 
age  are  those  who  are  combative  and  obstinate  and  conscien- 
tious. You  know  exactly  how  to  deal  with  them.  If  a  man 
is  obstinate,  and  you  want  him  to  go  one  way,  you  push  him 
the  other  way,  and  then  you  have  him.  Men  of  hard  knotty 
temperaments  are  not  difficult  to  manage  if  you  have  the 
time,  and  think  it  worth  while  to  manageHhem. 

But_wJien  you  take  love  (I  do  not  mean^he^commoner 
quality ;  I  dcSiQt  mean  shinplasters  passing  for  love  : 
bullion  ;  I  mean  specie-basis  love,  such  as  springs  from  the 
inspiration  of  God,  and  is  in  sympathy  both  ways,  toward 
God  and  toward  men) — when  you  take  such  love  you  cannot 
bribe  it.  It  controls  every  one  of  the  other  faculties.  It 
tempers  the  acerbity  of  anger.  It  brings  pride  into  its  ser-i 
vice.  It  leads  the  various  elements  of  the  soul 
selves  to  wholesome  uses,  as  naturally  as  the  sun  turns" 
to  saccharine.  Therefore  it  should  be  the  chief  justice 
each  man's  soul. 

When  a  Christian  is  all  the  time  trying  himself  by  the 
of  rectitude,  he  is  not  free.  Paul  said  that  when  mei 
under  the  law  they  were  in  bondage.  lTo  man  is  happy  ^ 
is  subject  to  a  condemning  conscience.  You  never  will  have 
peace  until  you  have  trust  in  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  a  synonym 
for  living  in  the  atmosphere  of  love. 

I  wonder  how  it  is  that  so  many  precious  symbols  and  em- 
blems are  lost  to  us.  Men  go  through  the  seventh  and  eighth 
of  Romans  as  though  there  were  no  interpretation  of  them, 
when  there  is  one  in  every  family. 


38  SAVED  BY  HOPE. 

A  boy  is  forbidden  by  his  father  and  mother  to  go  out  in 
the  night.  At  nine  o'clock  he  quietly  slips  down  stairs,  and 
steals  a  little  money  out  of  his  mother's  drawer,  and  runs  off 
to  the  circus  or  the  theater  ;  and  he  falls  in  with  some  compan- 
ions ;  and,  wanting  to  make  them  think  that  he  is  a  man,  he 
goes  to  smoking  and  drinking.  It  is  not  long  before  he  is 
found  out  at  home.  The  father  and  mother  say  nothing  to 
him,  but  he  somehow  feels  that  their  eyes  are  upon  him.  He 
is  conscious  that  he  is  not  at  one  with  them.  There  is  an 
unusual  stillness  at  the  table ;  he  is  not  sent  on  such  confi- 
dential errands  as  he  used  to  be  ;  he  is  watched  ;  and  he  is 
quite  unhappy.  By-and-by  his  father  says,  "Henry,  I  want 
to  see  you  in  my  study."  The  whole  soul  of  the  boy  is  stirred, 
and  he  begins  to  chide  himself,  and  say,  "  I  wish  I  had  not 
gone.  What  a  fool  I  was  !  I  have  not  been  happy  a  minute 
since  I  went.  How  silly  it  was  in  me  to  make  believe  that  I 
enjoyed  it,  when  it  made  me  wretched  all  the  time.  The  re- 
sult is  that  I  have  got  into  trouble  with  my  father,  and  I  know 
what  is  coming  now — I  shall  get  a  whipping." 

He  is  a  perfect  embodiment  of  the  seventh  of  Romans. 
He  says,  "  I  won't  do  it  again  ;"  and  he  goes  to  his  father 
expecting  a  discourse — with  an  application  ! 

The  father  meets  the  boy  with  great  love  and  great  gen- 
tleness, and  tells  him  what  he  has  heard  ;  and  the  boy  begins 
to  cry — if  he  has  a  bit  of  boy  in  him  he  does  ;  and  the  father 
says,  "Now,  my  dear  boy,  I  love  you  as  I  do  myself.  I  am 
sorry  for  all  this  ;  but  I  am  not  going  to  scold  you.  I  cer- 
tainly am  not  going  to  punish  you.  It  cuts  me  to  the  heart 
that  you  betrayed  my  trust  in  you  ;  I  cannot  tell  you  how  it 
pains  me  that  my  boy  has  not  more  honor  ;  and  I  am  grieved 
beyond  expression  that  I  cannot  lean  on  you."  The  boy  says 
to  himself,  "I  wish  he  would  whip  me,  and  stop  this  talk- 
ing." Now  he  would  rather  have  that  which  before  he 
dreaded. 

Finally,  the  father  puts  his  arm  about  him,  and  says, 
"  Now,  Henry,  is  this  the  end  ?"  The  boy  says,  "  Yes,  it  is 
the  end."  "  Very  well,"  says  the  father,  "  let  it  be  the  end. 
You  are  my  own  dear  boy  ;  I  am  going  to  trust  you  just  as 
I  always  have ;  and  if  you  feel  tempted,  come  right  to  me. 


SAVED  BY  HOPE.  39 

If  you  want  to  do  anything,  I  would  rather  you  would  tell 
me  about  it  first,  than  do  it  and  let  me  find  it  out  after- 
wards." 

When  a  boy  goes  out  of  the  presence  of  his  father  under  N 
such  circumstances,  I  should  like  to  know  what  he  would  say   >•** 
of  that  father,  if  he  had  language  with  which  to  express  his 
feelings.     "  Ah  !  he  is  the  royalest  man  on  earth.     What  a 
father  I  have  !    How  I  love  him  !    I  am  afraid  I  shall  do 
something  that  I  ought  not  to.     I  do  not  know  how  I  can 
show  myself  worthy  of  such  a  father.     I  am  going  to  try  to 
do  right ;  and  I  will  tell  him  when  I  do  wrong." 

Here  is  the  eighth  of  Romans  begun.     The  boy  has  been 
forgiven.     He  went  wrong ;  he  sinned  against  himself  and 
his  parents  ;  he  had  his  little  struggle ;  his  father  manifested 
toward  him  a  spirit  of  love ;  he  confessed  his  wrong-doing  ; 
he  received  forgiveness  ;  and  his  father  said  to  him, ."  Trust 
me ;  I  am  going  to  help  you.     Keep  loving  me  ;  I  will  keep  » 
loving  you.     You  are  a  boy,  you  have  a  boy's  weaknesses,  / 
very  likely  you  will  be  tempted  ;  and  I  am  going  to  stand  by  I— - 
you  clear  to  the  end."    Would  it  not  be  abase  and  vulgar 
nature  that  would  not  be  true  after  such  an  assurance  as 
that? 

That  is  the  eighth  of  Romans.  That  is  Christ  reconciling 
us  to  him,  doing  it  by  the  power  of  love,  and  making  us 
feel  that  our  strength  is  not  in  ourselves,  that  we  stand  not 
in  our  goodness  but  in  the  goodness  of  God,  that  we  shall 
find  rest  in  communion  with  the  divine,  and  that  our  devel- 
opment through  providence  is  made  certain  by  the  inevitable 
law  of  love,  if  we  persevere  to  the  end. 

Wherefore,  hope  is  the  distinctive  quality  of  the  Gospel.  —• " 
It  is  the  quality  which  should  be  inspired  by  the  love  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus  in  the  human  souL     And  you  are  saved  by  — ; 
hope — not  bviear.  nor  by  conscience,  nor  by  regrets  of  the 
past,  nor  by  a  realization  of  the  meagerness  and  barrenness  of 
the  present,  but  by  that  future  which  is  made  radiant  by 
the  glow  of  God's  face  filled  full  of  gracious  promises  of 
mercy,  and  breathing  summer  out  of  the  heart  of  heaven 
upon  the  souls  of  men. 

In  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  which  is  higher  than 

LI       4          ' 


40  SAVED  BY  HOPE. 

the  heights,  lower  than  the  depths,  wider  than  horizons, 
passing  understanding — in  this  great  love  is  hope  for  every- 
body. Poor,  trembling,  unhappy  soul,  do  not  think  that  your 
hope  lies  in  your  making  your  old  clothes  seem  as  good  as 
new.  Do  not  think  that  your  hope  lies  in  your  repenting  of 
your  sins.  Your  hope  lies  in  the  abundance  and  generosity  of 
the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  lies  in  the  fact  that  there 
is  enough  in  the  love  of  God  for  you,  that  God  gives  it  to  you, 
and  that  it  is  yours  as  long  as  you  will  take  it. 

All  those  views,  then,  which  set  at  defiance  the  blessed- 
ness of  this  hope  in  Christ  and  God  are  '•^trary  to  the  ex- 
plicit teaching  of  the  Word  of  God. 

I  beseech  of  you,  Christian  brethren,  cast  not  away  your 
hope.  You  that  go  astray,  and  are  obliged  to  register  against 
yourselves  great  mistakes  ;  you  that  stumble,  and  fight  man- 
fully against  inordinate  affections  and  strong  and  fiery  lusts  ; 
you  that  struggle  dubiously,  at  times,  in  the  battle  of  life ; 
you  that  long  for  the  development  of  positive  graces — for 
love,  for  purity,  for  joy,  for  peace  ;  you  that  would  bring 
forth  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit— for  you  are  all  the  blessed 
promises  of  God. 

So  cleanse  fear  out  of  your  lives.  Come  forth  from  bond- 
age. Escape  from  the  prison-house.  You  are  Christ's  sons  : 
wear  Christ's  badges.  You  are  the  children  of  Christ :  put 
on  the  raiment  that  belongs  to  his  children.  Do  not  stand  in 
the  expectation  that  you  are  to  be  saved  because  you  are 
good  :  you  are  to  be  saved  because  you  are  under  the  guid- 
ance of  Him  who  is  ripening  you,  as  the  summer's  sun  ripens 
fruits. 

It  is  with  human  beings  as  it  is  with  plants.  Some  things 
come  early,  and  die  without  developing  either  blossoms  or 
fruit.  So  some  children  die  before  they  have  been  able 
to  show  much  growth.  Some  things  wait  till  June,  when 
their  branches  are  filled  with  brilliant  blossoms,  and  then  die. 
So  some  young  persons  come  to  the  threshold  of  life,  and  de- 
velop certain  elements,  and  do  a  certain  work,  and  are  full  of 
promise,  and  then  disappear,  God  having  taken  them.  Some 
things,  like  the  aster  and  the  golden  rod,  bloom  in  Septem- 
ber and  October,  and  lay  their  glowing  clusters  right  on  the 


5^4  VED  BY  HOPE.  41 

very  cheek  of  frost,  and  are  good  to  the  end.  So  there  are 
men  who  live  along  till  the  very  winter  slays  them.  And 
they  who  go  in  the  early  spring,  they  who  go  in  mid- 
summer, and  they  who  go  late  in  the  autumn,  are  all  undei 
the  same  beneficent  guidance.  It  is  the  same  season  of  graces 
nourishing  them,  and  preparing  them,  and  carrying  them  up 
to  a  better  sphere. 

0  ye  that  are  wind-driven  ;  0  ye  that  are  weather-bound  ; 
0  ye  that  are  frosted  or  frozen  ;  0  ye  that  are  seeking  fairer 
climes  ;  0  ye  that  are  fruitless  and  unbearing — your  strength 
is  not  in  your  own  good,  but  in  the  summer's  sun,  that  comes 
nearer  day  by  day  to  seek  you  and  to  work  out  of  you  that 
which  is  planted  in  you  by  the  hand  of  God. 

Dear  friends,  the  spirit  of  God  seeks  you,  and  will  work 
mightily  in  you,  unfolding  and  unfolding  your  nature,  until 
the  time  comes  when  you  shall  disappear  to  us,  that  you  may 
appear  among  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect. 

Then  hope  ;  hope  on  ;  hope  to  the  end  ;  and  be  ye  saved 
by  hope. 


42  SAVED  BY  HOPE. 


•: 


PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

WE  thank  thee,  our  Father,  that  our  thoughts  go  along  the  way  of 
life.  We  are  not  mourners,  though  sometimes  we  mourn ;  nor  are  we 
children  of  darkness,  though  sometimes  we  sit  in  the  shadow  of  death. 
We  are  called  of  God.  To  us,  to  every  one  that  heareth,  and  to  every 
one  that  will,  is  the  call  to  life,  to  hope,  and  to  joy.  We  draw  near  to 
thee  this  morning  for  our  portion  of  the  inheritance — for  the  earnest 
of  the  promised  possession,  the  foretoken,  the  something  which  thou 
sendest  before  to  bring  us  up  out  of  Egypt  and  into  the  promised 
land. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  grant  unto  us  such  an  assurance 
of  thine  own  self,  such  a  sense  of  the  warmth  of  soul  that  comes  from 
thy  brooding,  such  a  sense  of  God  speaking  within,  that  we  shall 
know  our  fellowship  and  sonship,  and  that  we  shall  be  able  to  breathe 
a  new  consciousness  of  adoption,  and  feel  that  thou  art  our  dear 
Father. 

Grant  us,  this  morning,  we  beseech  of  thee,  faith  in  God,  hope  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  life  through  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  beseech 
of  thee  that  thus  thou  wilt  win  us  from  undue  adhesions  to  the  world. 
Deliver  us  from  the  bondage  of  overmuch  labor,  from  the  torment  of 
vexatious  care,  from  the  fears  that  tyrannize  over  the  soul,  from  the 
despotism  of  evil  habits,  and  from  all  things  that  limit  us,  and  hinder 
the  freedom  of  our  emotion  toward  thee,  and  take  away  from  the 
sweetness  of  our  communion  with  thee,  and  from  the  liberty  and 
power  of  the  gift  of  God  that  is  within  us. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt,  by  thine  own  power,  O  thou  blessed  and 
holy  One,  deliver  us  from  the  thrall  of  sin.  Give  us  strength  in  the  day 
of  temptation.  Teach  us  how  to  use  the  world  as  not  abusing  it ;  how 
to  make  all  things  lawful;  how  to  convert  whatever  is  in  life  to  the 
usages  of  our  reason,  and  to  the  honor  of  our  higher  nature  that  is  of 
God,  that  we  shall  be  able  to  walk  as  free  men,  a  law  unto  ourselves, 
inspired  continually  with  that  wisdom  which  is  from  above. 

And  so  we  pi'ay  that  thou  wilt  give  us  strength  among  men,  that 
we  may  shed  cheer  upon  them,  and  give  courage  to  those  who  are  in 
despondency,  and  wisdom  to  those  who  lack  it;  so  that  out  of  our 
souls  may  be  breathed  those  sweet  winds  which  shall  bring  in  all  such 
as  lie  in  calm,  and  cannot  move  themselves. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  thy  blessing,  this  morning,  to  all 
who  have  come  up  into  thy  sanctuary  needing  thee,  and  conscious 
of  their  need.  May  they  who  bear  burdens  be  relieved  of  them. 
May  those  who  do  not  dare  to  call  themselves  the  children  of  God  be 
drawn  by  childlike  clinging  to  thee  as  their  Father.  Thou  that  dost 
by  the  shining  of  the  sun  bring  all  sweet  and  pleasant  things  out  of 
the  earth,  canst  thou  not  more,  by  the  shining  of  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness, bring  from  our  dead  hearts  glorious  blossoms  and  fruits. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  vindicate  thy  presence  and  power  to  every- 
one who  is  in  doubt  concerning  them.  Thou  that  art  the  Life-giver, 
give  life  to  those  who  are  dead  in  things  spiritual.  We  pray  that  all 
thine  oppressed  ones,  that  all  thy  weak  ones,  that  all  thy  tempted 
ones,  that  all  thy  sinning  ones,  that  all  thy  people  who  are  out  of  the 


SAVED  BY  HOPE.  43 

way  in  any  manner  whatsoever,  may  be  brought  to  thee.  O  thou 
blessed  High-priest  that  hast  corn  passion,  look  upon  those  who  need 
thee,  and  have  compassion  upon  them. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  open,  to-day,  to  everyone  of  us,  the  greater 
horizon  that  hounds  and  glorifies  this  lesser  horizon  of  time.  May  we 
behold,  far  beyond  our  heaven,  the  heaven  of  heavens.  May  we  discern 
more  than  thought  can  find,  and  more  than  language  can  express. 
()  grant  that  it  may  be  for  us,  also,  standing  here,  to  discern  things 
which  it  is  not  lawful  to  utter.  And  so  grant  that  in  our  experience 
there  may  be  developed  that  peace  which  passeth  all  understanding; 
that  joy  which  is  full  of  glory;  that  hope  which  overcometh;  that 
blessedness  which  they  have  who  are  kept  in  the  peace  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

Draw  near  to  any  who  mourn,  and  grant  that  their  sorrow  may 
be  blessed  of  God,  and  sweetened  into  all  nourishment  for  their 
souls.  May  those  who  are  in  bitter  disappointments  be  reconciled 
to  the  providence  of  God,  and  kuo  w  how  to  be  contented  in  the  places 
and  in  the  circumstances  in  which  they  are,  and  how  by  patience  to 
overcome  the  rude  thralls  of  temptation.  Grant  to  those  who  are 
standing  and  waiting  for  the  indications  of  thy  providence  to  know 
the  way  of  duty,  light  and  guidance  and  assurance,  that  they  may 
hear  thee  saying,  This  is  the  way :  walk  ye  in  it. 

We  pray  that  we  may  so  dwell  in  the  de«ire  of  love,  and  of  trust 
in  God,  and  of  peace  in  God,  and  of  hope  in  God,  that  all  things 
shall  be  clear  to  us ;  and  that  those  complications  which  come  from 
the  interference  of  passions,  and  those  knots  which  selfishness  doth 
tie,  and  those  snarls  which  come  from  intemperate  ways,  may  all 
be  loosed  or  be  destroyed ;  and  that  we  may  live  in  that  blessed 
empyrean  which  is  light  and  guidance,  so  that  whichever  way  the 
Lord  shall  waft  us  shall  be  the  way  that  is  most  delightful  to  us. 

We  pray,  not  only  that  we  may  have  the  consciousness  of  growing 
in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ, 
l>ut  that  we  may  also  bear  with  us  more  and  more  friendships  and 
affections  into  the  high  and  blessed  realm  above,  so  that  we  may  feel 
t  hat  we  are  carrying  our  dear  ones,  and  are  being  borne  by  them, 
into  the  assemblage  of  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  enter  into  every  dwelling,  and  that  thou 
wilt  say  in  each  household,  Peace  be  with  you. 

We  beseech  of  thee" that  thou  wilt  teach  us  more  and  more  to  re- 
joice, not  alone  in  the  outward  victory  of  the  visible  church,  but  in 
the  victory  of  that  great  invisible  church  to  which  we  belong,  and 
from  which  we  derive  our  inspiration.  We  thank  thee  that  it  is  so 
rich.  We  thank  thee  that  in  every  age  multitudes  run  iuto  it  as  rivers 
into  the  sea;  that  it  is  already  filled  with  so  many  whom  we  have 
known  and  loved  upon  earth;  and  that  it  is  no  longer  the  great  Sa- 
hara of  our  thought,  barren  and  desolate — but  home-like.  May  it  be- 
come to  us  more  and  more,  as  we  transfer  thither  the  things  which 
are  most  beautiful  and  most  desirable  to  our  souls,  our  Father's  house; 
and  may  we  realize  that  we  are  strangers  and  pilgrims,  seeking  a 
better  country — a  city  which  hath  foundations  whose  builder  and 
maker  is  God,  and  whose  inhabitants  lovingly  call  out  to  us,  Come, 


44  SAVED  BY  HOPE. 

come!  Out  ol  trouble,  out  of  sorrow,  out  of  night,  may  we  spread 
our  wings  and  fly  away  to  he  at  rest. 

Grant  thy  blessing,  dear  Father,  to  rest  on  all  assemblies  that  are 
gathered  together  for  worship  this  day ;  and  may  the  messages  which 
are  delivered  to  them  be  messages  of  faith  and  love.  We  pray  that 
thou  wilt  remember  all  the  efforts  which  are  being  made  to  further 
the  cause  of  truth  and  justice  and  morality.  Guide  those  who  are 
inspired  to  labor  in  thy  cause,  that  they  may  do  the  best  things,  and 
that  they  may  do  them  in  the  best  spirit.  Bless  the  schools  and  mis- 
sionary enterprises  that  are  connected  with  this  church.  May  thy 
blessing  rest  richly  upon  the  brethren  who  are  laboring  in  them. 
We  thank  thee  that  under  their  ministrations  so  many  are  being 
called  in,  and  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  God. 

Grant  thy  blessing,  especially,  upon  that  Council*  which  is  to  be 
convoked,  this  week,  in  our  midst.  Grant  that  all  who  shall  come 
hither  may  come  with  the  sanctifying  spirit  of  God  resting  upon  them ; 
that  there  may  be  no  discord ;  that  there  may  be  the  divine  leading ; 
and  that  they  may  dwell  in  the  perfect  presence  and  spirit  of  the  Lord 
and  Master,  and  do  those  things  which  shall  be  for  the  furtherance  of 
thine  honor,  and  forbear  those  things  which  shall  make  for  trouble 
and  for  harm.  Everywhere,  may  all  conferences,  all  presbyteries,  all 
synods,  all  assemblies,  all  convocations,  have  the  spirit  of  Christ 
within  them,  that -the  things  which  shall  be  done  in  the  name  of 
Christ  may  be  Christlike. 

Spread  abroad  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  in  all  the  world.  Hasten 
the  day  when  thy  promises  shall  be  fulfilled,  and  when  from  the 
rising  of  the  sun  till  the  going  down  of  the  same  all  men  shall  know 
thee  and  love  thee.  And  to  the  Father,  the  Son  and  the  Spirit,  shall 
be  praises  everlasting.  Amen. 


PRAYEE  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

Our  Father,  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  bless  the  word  spoken,  and 
grant  that  it  may  not  be  in  vain.  Deliver  us  from  all  the  tyranny  of 
fear;  deliver  us  from  bondage  in  the  disgraceful  prison-house  where 
anguish  casts  many  a  man.  Deliver  us  from  phantasy  and  from  all 
insane  visions.  May  we  have  the  simplicity  of  children,  and  know 
•that  the  way  of  life  is  the  way  of  love  and  hope  and  trust;  and  to 
these  may  we  give  ourselves,  and  be  nurtured  in  them  till  we  have 
fulfilled  our  mission  here,  and  until  thou  hast  prepared  us  for  bless- 
edness beyond;  and  then  bring  us  home  to  Zion  with  songs  and  ever- 
lasting joy  upon  our  heads.  And  to  Thee  shall  be  the  praise  of  our 
salvation,  Father,  Son  and  Spirit.  Amen. 


*  Council  of  Congregational  Churches,  called  by  the  Church  of  the  Pilgrims 
and  the  Clinton  Avenue  Congregational  Church. 


THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOYE. 


"  For  the  preaching  of  the  cross  is  to  them  that  perish  foolishness, 
but  uuto  us  which  are  saved,  it  is  the  power  of  God.  For  it  is  written, 
I  will  destroy  the  wisdom  of  the  wise,  and  will  bring  to  nothing  the 
und el-standing  of  the  prudent.  Where  is  the  wise?  Where  is  the 
scribe?  Where  is  the  disputer  of  this  world?  Hath  not  God  made 
foolish  the  wisdom  of  this  world?  For  after  that  in  the  wisdom  of 
God  the  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God,  it  pleased  God  by  the 
foolishness  of  preaching  to  save  them  that  believe.  For  the  Jews 
require  a  sign,  and  the  Greeks  seek  after  wisdom;  but  we  preach 
Christ  crucified,  unto  the  Jews  a  stumbling-block,  and  unto  the 
Greeks  foolishness,  but  unto  them  which  are  called,  both  Jews  and 
Greeks,  Christ  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God."— 1  Cor. 
i.  18-34. 


Paul's  words  in  the  opening  of  Corinthians  look  like  an 
indiscriminate  defiance  of  all  intellectual  excellencies ;  for 
he  sums  up,  under  three  titles,  the  significant  names  of 
intellectual  development.  "  Wlicre  are  the  ivise?"  Or,  in 
our  phrase,  Where  is  Grecian  philosophy  ?  Where  is  that 
wisdom  which  developed  itself  in  the  schools  of  Greece  ? — 
it  was  to  Corinth  that  he  was  writing.  "  Where  is  the 
scribe?"  The  scribe  represented  the  Hebrew  scholar — the 
man  who  was  cultured  in  all  civil  and  religious  knowlecVo 
among  the  Jews.  "  Where  is  the  disjmter  of  tJtix  irfirld?" 
By  this,  doubtless,  is  meant  the  dialecticians,  whether  among 
the  Jews  or  among  the  Greeks — the  sophists — the  men  vl.o 
instituted  disputations  along  the  streets,  and  everywhere 
throughout  the  cities.  Those  men  that  live  by  the  develop- 
ment of  intellectual  truth,  whether  among  the  Jews  or  among 
the  Greeks,  in  regular  forms  of  schools  and  philosophy,  or  in 

SUNDAY  MORNING.  March  29,  Io"4 ;  Immediately  following  the  adjournment  of  the 
Congregational  Council,  convened  at  the  call  of  the  Church  of  the  PiVrims  and  the 
Clinton  Avenue  Conyreaational  Church,  for  discussion  of  the  forms  of  order  and  discip- 
line In  the  Plymmith  Church.  LESSON  :  1  Cor.  xltl.  HYMNS  (Plymouth  Collection) . 
Nus.  247, 1,261. 1.235. 


48  TR&  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE. 

irregular  and  peripatetic  forms — where  are  they  ?  God  has 
made  them  seem  foolish  by  the  presentation  of  Jesus  Christ, 
who  is  the  power  of  God  in  the  world. 

Now,  I  am  far  from  understanding  this  as  meaning  the 
degradation  of  reason  or  of  reasoning,  on  the  part  of  the 
apostle ;  for  he  uses  reason  and  reasoning  himself  pre- 
eminently. It  does  not  deny  nor  undervalue  the  uses  of  the 
intellect,  in  the  promotion  either  of  science,  of  philosophy, 
or  of  knowledge  more  generally.  It  does  not  undertake  to 
say  that  these  things  are  of  no  validity.  It  does  not  touch 
that  question.  It  is  not  a  declaration  that  the  grand  Chris- 
tianizing processes  of  the  world  can  take  place  without  the 
use  of  the  human  intellect.  It  is  this  :  the  assertion  that 
in  the  work  of  regenerating  the  world  mere  intellectual  forces 
are  secondary,  subsidiary,  auxiliary ;  and  that  the  power  by 
which  the  human  heart  is  to  be  transformed,  and  by  which 
the  race  is  to  be  carried  up  until  it  is  in  the  likeness  of  God, 
is  the  power  of  "the  heart. 

I  understand,  then,  in  a  large  interpretation  of  this  pas- 
sage, that  it  is  a  declaration  of  the  primacy  of  disposition, 
or  heart-power,  in  the  great  work  of  elevating  the  human 
race.  Not,  however,  to  the  derogation  of  the  intellect,  but 
to  the  derogation  of  its  arrogant  sense  of  superiority.  Men 
will  not  be  changed  from  their  lower  flesh-nature  into  their 
higher  spirit-nature  by  any  amount  of  intellectual  reason- 
ing. When  men  are  transformed,  it  will  be  because  there 
has  been  breathed  into  them  a  disposition  which  will  change 
everything  in  them. 

It  is  not,  then,  that  we  are  called,  in  this  declaration  of 
Paul,  to  choose  between  intellect  on  the  one  side,  and  misty 
feelings  of  emotion  and  tender  impulses  on  the  other.  We 
want  them  both.  The  question  is  as  to  their  rank.  Which 
is  the  superior  ?  Which  serves  the  other  ?  Are  we  to 
use  the  disposition  for  the  sake  of  glorifying  the  intellect, 
and  making  men  knowledgeable  creatures  :  or  are  we  to  use 
the  intellect  as  an  instrument  and  a  servant  for  making  men 
good,  pure,  just,  loving,  true  ?  In  which  is  man's  man- 
hood— in  his  intellectual  force,  or  in  his  moral  nature  ?  As 
to  that,  there  can  be  no  question  ;  for  Christ  declares  that 


THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE.  49 

the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  the  foundation  of  the  Law,  and  that 
it  is  love  to  God  and  love  to  man.  lie  says  that  on  this 
stands  the  whole  Scripture.  He  says,  "A  new  command- 
ment I  give  unto  you,  That  ye  love  one  another."  The  fruit 
of  the  Spirit,  as  he  represents  it,  consists  in  joy,  and  love,  and 
faith,  and  peace — not  knowledge. 

In  that  matchless  thirteenth  chapter  of  first  Corinth- 
ians which  I  read  in  the  opening  service  (and  one  can 
scarcely  tell  whether  it  be  a  sonnet  or  a  discourse,  yet,  what- 
ever we  think  of  its  form,  its  spirit  is  the  Charter  of  the 
Christian  Church) — in  that  matchless  chapter  Paul  himself 
brings  the  question  to  terms,  and  says  that  all  knowledge, 
all  prophecy,  all  power  of  teaching  and  discerning,  all  faith 
(that  kind  of  operative  faith  by  which  mountains  might 
be  removed  ;  that  kind  of  faith  which  consists  in  the  strength- 
ening of  the  human  will  as  a  means  of  exerting  immense 
force),  all  self-sacrifice  in  the  way  of  zeal,  all  fidelity  to  a 
man's  side  or  party — that  all  these  things  are  relative. 
Knowledge  is  relative.  "When  yon  know  all  possible  things, 
you  only  know  them  in  spots  and  particulars.  It  is  not 
given  to  man  to  understand  either  the  nature  of  the  world  in 
which  he  dwells,  or  all  its  relations  to  the  universe.  And 
when  we  rise  out  of  the  childhood  of  this  life  into  the  man- 
hood of  the  great  life  above,  we  shall  find  that  all  the 
particles  of  knowledge  over  which  we  swelled  with  pride 
here  were  but  parts  and  fragments,  and  that  we  knew  as 
little  of  the  whole  system  of  creation  as  the  wandering 
Bedouin  knows  about  the  old  Assyrian  civilization. 

"Now  we  know  in  part,  and  we  prophesy  in  part;  but  when  that 
which  is  perfect  is  come,  thon  that  which  is  in  part  [the  partialisms  or 
relativities  of  this  mortal  life]  shall  be  done  away." 

In  this  universal  scattering,  death  shall  take  all  things 
which  the  intellect  has  cognizance  of,  because  they  are  par- 
tial, the  scope  of  the  intellect  being  partial.  There  is  a  sphere 
of  our  existence,  a  great  treasury  of  truths,  which  is  far  be- 
yond our  reach  ;  and  when  we  rise  out  of  this  nascent  state  ; 
when  we  leave  this  school  on  earth,  and  go  into  that  other 
life,  we  shall  find  that  the  things  which  men  most  pride 
themselves  about  have  disappeared.  Those  things  which  the 


50  THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE. 

scribe  and  philosopher  in  this  world  think  to  be  so  important 
are  things  of  which,  as  wo  stand  looking  nt  them  in  the 
world  to  come,  wo  shall  say,  "When  I  was  a  child.,  I  did 
think  as  a  child  ;  but  now  that  I  hayc  become  a  man,  I  have 
put  away  these  childish  things." 

You  might  just  as  well  attempt  to  persuade  Newton  to  go 
back  into  the  nursery  and  play  with  a  string  and  a  top,  as 
attempt  to  persuade  any  wise  soul  that  has  escaped  from  this 
life  into  the  heavenly  sphere  to  go  back  to  the  questions  and 
arguments  which  made  him  so  proud  in  this  world.  They 
have  gone  down  to  nothing  there. 

And  yet,  in  the  decadence  of  convictions,  in  the  waste  of 
imperfect  faiths,  in  the  destruction  of  these  proud  schemes  of 
philosophy,  there  are  some  things  which  are  not  going  to  pass 
away.  Love  abidcth — yea  more,  faith  and  hope,  as  well  as 
love.  When  the  auxiliary  and  all-helping  understanding 
shall  in  the  other  life  be  convicted  of  its  fatuous  follies,  there 
will  rise  up  the  reality  of  our  manhood — its  disposition — 
that  which  we  mean  by  "  the  heart."  That  is  going  through 
life  and  through  death,  and  will  emerge  in  the  other  life. 
It  will  not  be  relative  to  the  constitution  which  belongs  to  us 
here.  It  will  not  be  shredded  away,  but  will  go  through  the 
processes  of  translation.  That  which  remains  of  us  stead- 
fast after  death  is  the  heart,  and  that  which  changes  at 
death  is  the  understanding  and  its  knowledges. 

The  end  to  be  sought  in  this  life,  then,  is  the  suppression 
of  the  passional  man,  cf  the  animal  dispositions,  and  the 
development  of  the  germs  of  heart-life  which  are  planted  in 
the  soul.  We  are  to  unfold  in  this  mortal  sphere  Christ-like 
dispositions. 

Now,  what  was  Christ  as  our  Exemplar?  I  am  not  asking 
what  were  the  relations  which  flowed  from  his  appear- 
ance in  time.  Neither  am  I  asking  what  his  relations  had 
been  to  the  anterior  and  invisible.  I  am  not  asking  what  were 
his  relations  to  that  with  which  arrogant  men  think  them- 
selves to  be  so  familiar — the  universal  nature  and  government 
of  God.  I  am  not  asking  these  things,  because  we  are  igno- 
rant of  them.  I  do  not  know,  nor  does  any  man  know,  Avhat 
these  relations  are  ;  and  no  man  should  be  audacious  enough 


THE  PlilM.H'V   OF  LOVE.  51 

to  profess  to  know.  There  are  other  relations  in  the  death 
and  sufferings  of  Christ  than  those  which  we  can  interpret. 
But  we  can  understand  those  which  are  obvious — those  which 
are  clear  to  our  powers  of  comprehension.  Christ  appeared 
ki  order  to  call  man  from  his  lower  life  of  the  flesh  to  his 
higher  life  in  God.  His  appearance  was  a  manifestation 
of  that  higher  life  in  himself,  showing  men  how  the  great 
new  spirit-life  was  wrought  out,  and  how  that  life  centered 
itself  in  love ;  and  he  declared  to  them  a  new  command- 
ment. 

In  words,  the  commandment  "  Thou  shalt  love"  was  not 
new  ;  and  yet,  it  was  a  "new  commandment."  It  was  new, 
not  in  mere  externals,  but  in  the  scope,  in  the  function  and  in 
the  primacy  then  for  the  first  time  given  to  it. 

Love  is  the  central  power.  It  is  that  which  subjugates 
the  passions,  and  opens  the  soul's  sensibility  to  God.  And 
this  is  to  predominate  ;  this  is  to  suffer  ;  this  is  to  inspire  and 
work  out  truth,  justice,  purity,  and  liberty  in  itself.  And 
so,  being  made  the  great  architect  of  the  work  that  God  has 
to  perform  in  the  human  soul,  the  disposition,  centering  on 
love,  and  representing  it,  and  being  inspired  by  it,  is  to  be 
the  architectural  force  by  which  the  world  is  to  be  recon- 
structed in  wisdom,  in  doctrines,  in  rules,  in  regulations.  It 
is  to  develop  in  the  souls  of  men  the  greater  divine  element 
of  love  until  its  force  is  such  that  out  of  it  shall  be  evolved 
all  elements  of  truth,  of  justice  and  of  liberty. 

We  want  to  know  what  to  steer  toward.  If  it  be  true 
that  men  must  steer  toward  earth  first,  if  it  be  true  that  they 
must  steer  toward  exact  right-believing  first,  we  otight  to 
know  that.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  men  are  to  steer  first  for 
those  grand  dispositions  which  are  manifest  in  Jesus  Christ, 
the  gift  of  God  to  the  world,  teaching  that  the  central  force 
of  the  universe  is  love,  and  that  by  love  he  is  to  re-create  this 
lower  sphere,  then  let  us  know  that.  Some  men  stand  say- 
ing, "First  pure,  and  then  peaceable."  As  if  that  were  the 
order  of  development  in  time  !  As  if  a  man  had  no  right  to 
be  peaceable  until  he  was  pure  !  As  if  the  world  would  not 
be  like  a  vast  squabbling  menagerie  of  animals  let  loose,  if 
they  could  not  be  peaceable  until  they  were  first  pure  !  As  if 


52  THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE. 

purity  were  not  the  term  which  represents  the  consummation 
of  all  other  processes  ! 

It  is  the  putting  of  this  heart  disposition  over  against  the 
mere  force  of  knowledge  that  is  declared  to  be  God's  method. 
Tlilc  is  the  power  which  will  subdue  the  world.  The  condi- 
tions which  are  required  for  it,  however,  must  be  complied 
with. 

In  the  first  place,  if  divine  benevolence,  divine  benignity, 
divine  sympathy,  or  in  other  words  the  great  truth  of  the  di- 
vine element  of  love  breathed  into  the  human  soul,  is  to 
redeem  men  from  animalism,  and  lift  them  up  into  the  sphere 
in  which  they  shall  be  in  unison  with  God,  it  must  be  devel- 
oped with  a  fervor  which  has  scarcely  been  known  hitherto. 

"  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with 
all  thy  soul,  aud  with  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy  strength,  and 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 

Men  stand  shuddering  over  against  that  command,  and 
say,  "It  is  impossible  to  obey  it.  Nobody  can  do  that. 
That  is  metaphorical,  and  has  to  be  taken  in  a  general 
way."  But  there  it  stands  from  age  to  age,  and  declares  that 
the  power  of  God  in  this  world  is  to  be  made  known  in  the 
development  in  the  human  soul  of  this  creative  force  of  love  ; 
and  every  household  on  earth  says,  mutely  or  whisperingly, 
'•  Amen."  Where  is  there  anything  which  rises  up  from  the 
animal  so  near  to  the  spiritual  as  father  and  mother  ?  Where 
are  there  schools,  where  are  there  parties,  where  are  there 
sects,  where  is  there  anything  on  earth  that  does  the  work  of 
overcoming  the  lower  nature  and  fortifying  it  against  all 
temptation,  and  blossoming  out  of  it  the  higher,  the  sweeter, 
the  benignant  element  of  love,  like  the  household,  which  is 
the  primitive  church,  and  the  model  of  the  church  ?  It  re- 
sponds, "  Thou  shalt  love,  or  thou  art  not  worthy  to  be 
child  ;  thou  shalt  love,  or  thou  art  not  worthy  to  be  brother  ; 
thou  shalt  love,  or  thou  art  not  worthy  to  be  sister."  And 
having  grown  up  out  of  family,  having  grown  through  new 
alliances,  "Thou  shalt  love"  stands  at  every  threshold  of 
permission.  Over  every  door  leading  to  amenities  and  liber- 
ties, stands,  "Thou  shalt  love."  In  the  path  which  leads  to 
the  joys  and  the  happiness  which  belong  to  wedded  souls, 


THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE.  53 

stands  "Thou  shalt  love."  Everywhere  in  the  course  of  the 
upward  development  of  men,  stands  this  great  commandment 
of  the  universe  :  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy 
strength,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  coupling,  by  its  thou- 
sand threads,  mankind,  in  every  sphere  of  life,  and  in  every 
stage  of  development,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  and 
giving  continuity  to  all  human  experience. 

Now,  to  call  the  world  to  love  is  a  very  different  thing 
from  calling  the  world  to  orthodoxy. 

Repent  of  your  sins,  and  forsake  them.  Well,  that  is 
comparatively  easy.  To  repent  of  and  forsake  a  man's  sins 
is  nothing  but  to  plow  under  the  weeds,  and  let  the  ground 
lie  fallow.  That  is  a  great  deal  better  than  nothing;  but  it 
would  be  poor  farming,  I  take  it,  if  a  man  were  running  his 
farm  on  that  principle.  There  would  be  no  weeds,  but  there 
would  be  no  harvest.  We  are  called  to  repentance,  and  we 
are  called  to  new  purposes  of  life.  Well,  purposes  of  life  are 
quite  indispensable  ;  but  no  man  ever  throve  on  purposes. 
Yes,  but  we  are  to  serve  God.  What  is  serving  God  ?  You 
are  converted  :  where  is  your  evidence  of  conversion  ?  Does 
it  consist  in  this :  that  you  are  born  into  such  a  spirit  of 
kindness  and  love  that  that  is  the  one  controlling  element  of 
your  nature  ?  Are  your  pride  and  your  selfishness  obliged  to 
lie  down  at  its  bidding  ?  Is  your  taste  inspired  by  it  ?  Is 
your  imagination  colored  by  it  ?  Is  your  will  subordinate  to 
it  ?  Is  it  the  one  element  that,  like  the  sun,  gives  light,  and 
lustre,  and  beauty,  and  form,  and  proportion  to  everything 
about  it?  Is  it  your  central  experience?  ''Thou  shalt 
love  " — is  that  the  law  by  which  you  are  governed  ?  Have 
you  been  born  into  that  ?  Many  and  many  a  man  has  been 
born  into  zeal,  into  faith,  into  orthodoxy,  into  partisan 
church-ship,  into  aspirations  for  eternity ;  but  no  man  is 
really  born  that  is  not  born  into  love.  All  developments  are 
miscarriages  until  you  are  born  into  that. 

Even  this  love  is  not  sufficient  when  it  is  only  born  as  a 
babe.  It  must  creep  before  it  can  walk  ;  and  it  must  creep 
fast  in  order  to  learn  how  to  walk  ;  and  it  must  walk  fast  in 
order  to  learii  how  to  run,  and  fly,  and  come  into  perfect 


54  THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE. 

u/scendency.  It  is  the  only  one  thing  that  has  a  right  to  en- 
slave a  man.  There  is  nothing  else  that  has  a  right  to  crown 
itself,  and  say,  "I  am  sovereign  in  the  human  soul."  It  is 
that  which  is  of  God,  and  goes  again  to  him,  in  all  its  ten- 
dencies, and  bears  in  itself,  more  than  the  conscience  does, 
the  right  to  be  a  vicegerent  of  God. 

No  man  preaching  righteousness  alone,  no  man  preaching 
rectitude  alone,  no  man  preaching  virtue  alone,  no  man 
preaching  wisdom  alone,  no  man  preaching  taste  and  beauty 
alone,  preaches  the  whole  Gospel.  These  are  but  the  fringes 
of  the  great  truth  of  Christ  which  lies  in  this  :  "  Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy 
soul,  and  with  all  thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  You  may  have  everything  but  that, 
and  have  nothing ;  and  you  may  have  that,  and,  though 
everything  else  is  imperfect,  that  is  the  recreative  force  which 
will  make  it  perfect. 

With  fervor,  then,  it  must  exist.  Where  it  has  existed, 
it  has  been  in  single  isolated  cases  ;  it  has  been  sporadic  ;  it 
has  not  been  the  one  central  doctrine  of  the  church  ;  nor  has 
it  been  the  public  sentiment  of  Christian  communities  from 
the  beginning. 

Many  have  held  that  in  the  process  of  regeneration  a 
man  must  be  brought  to  a  condition  of  attention;  that  he 
must  be  arrested  in  his  feelings ;  that  he  must  be  serious ; 
that  he  must  be  convicted  ;  that  then  he  must  be  converted  ; 
that  then  he  must  rejoice ;  that  then  he  must  feel  right  ; 
that  he  must  have  faith ;  that  he  must  have  activity ;  that 
he  must  try  to  do  good;  and — oh,  yes,  that  he  must  have 
love,  too,  as  one  among  other  things — as  one  of  the  graces. 
But  that  is  just  the  wrong  view;  love  is  the  thing,  it  is  the 
one  thing,  out  of  which  are  to  sprout  and  root  all  other 
things  good  and  wholesome. 

Nor  must  it  be  an  occasional  exercise.  It  must  have  in 
it  continuity  and  universality.  This  beneficence  of  soul  must 
be  proof  against  the  soul's  own  self. 

Never  a  monarch  sat  on  the  throne  that  there  were  not  a 
dozen  others  who  wanted  his  crown ;  and  while  love  sits  re- 
gent, especially  in  its  minority,  the  other  faculties  seek  to 


THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE.  55 

usurp  its  place.  Pride  comes  in  a  thousand  ways,  and  reaches 
out  its  hand  for  the  crown,  saying,  "  Get  thee  behind  me, 
Love,  and  tell  me  what  to  do.''  It  has  usurped  the  place  of 
love,  and  it  is  the  better  able  to  keep  that  place,  because  it  is 
pride  gilded  with  love. 

Or,  there  comes  Veneration  in  the  same  garb,  stooping 
low,  twin-brother  of  Fear,  cousin  to  Superstition,  and  says, 
' '  Love,  put  off  the  shoes  from  off  thy  feet ;  this  is  holy 
ground  ;  stand  thou  aside  ;  thy  light  is  too  glaring ;  darken 
the  window  ;  put  away  all  worldly  and  glittering  realities  ;  let 
men  stand  in  mystic  twilight ;  for  I  shall  control  the  soul. 
Love,  be  thou  a  trembling  star  on  my  horizon,  that  I  may  be 
a  hemisphere."  So  veneration  is  a  usurper. 

Beauty  also  comes,  claiming  that  the  universe  was  made 
for  esthetic  elements,  for  harmony,  for  innocent  pleasures, 
and  joys  that  spring  therefrom;  and  therefore  she,  the  sense 
of  taste,  of  fitness,  of  fineness,  assumes  to  be  regnant  in  the 
soul. 

Yet,  after  all,  the  word  of  the  Lord  standeth  sure.  There 
is  but  one  commandment  which  is  central,  and  that  is  love. 
Sit  thou,  0  Love,  on  the  throne,  and  rule  in  the  name  of 
God,  thy  Father.  Thy  sway  must  be  supreme, — if  need  be 
arbitrary, — and  continuous, — until  the  very  end. 

More,  there  must  be  an  atmosphere  created  of  this  feel- 
ing. It  is  not  in  the  power  of  any  individual  to  develop  his 
faculties  to  the  highest  degree  until  he  is  brought  under  the 
influence  of  correlated  developments,  so  that  he  shall  have  not 
only  the  help  which  comes  from  his  own  will-power,  or  from 
the  strength  of  his  own  faculties,  but  also  the  stimulation 
which  comes  from  the  magnetic  force  of  like  faculties  in 
other  men.  For  no  joy  of  one  man  alone  is  like  the  joy  of  a 
thousand  men.  No  single  voice  is  like  the  voice  of  a  great 
multitude.  No  solitary  impulse  of  patriotism  is  like  the  im- 
pulses of  patriotism  in  a  great  people.  And  we  can  never 
know  what  love  is,  in  its  highest  form,  so  long  as  it  is  like  a 
single  wax  candle  in  a  saint's  shrine  burning  by  itself.  You 
cannot  know  what  is  the  love  of  God  in  this  world  while  it  is 
manifested  by  one  here,  and  another  there,  with  distances  so 
great  that  the  interstitial  spaces  between  are  void.  But  when 


56  THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE. 

churches  are  pervaded  with  the  consciousness  that  the  thing 
which  Christ  came  to  develop  was  the  principle  of  self- 
sacrifice,  of  suffering,  and  of  benevolence;  when  there  is  a  uni- 
versality and  continuity  of  this  spirit  of  love,  so  that  churches 
shall  feel  it,  and  be  filled  with  it,  so  that  the  voice  which  goes 
from  one  church  to  another  shall  be  the  voice  of  love  when 
they  are  gathered  together  in  their  assemblies,  and  so  that  the 
one  crowning  experience  shall  be  love,  gonls  yearning  for  each 
other,  and  gleaming  light  upon  each  other  from  the  varied 
shining  facets  of  their  lives,  this  love  forever  changing,  for- 
ever growing,  and  being  forever  new  and  fresh — then  its  effect 
will  begin  to  be  felt.  When  the  atmosphere  which  is  created 
by  love  is  such  in  a  whole  church  that  every  man  in  it  be- 
lioves  that  he  is  what  he  is,  not  by  his  own  organization  and 
education  and  endeavors  alone,  but  by  reason  of  this  feeling 
among  the  brethren,  then  you  will  begin  to  know  what  its 
power  is.  Love,  if  it  is  to  subdue  the  rebellious  passions  in 
men,  must  find  those  passions  weakened  under  its  influence. 

But  is  this  the  atmosphere  of  churches  ?  Now  and  then 
the  light  of  a  revival  pours  into  a  church,  and  men  do  rise 
somewhat  along  the  scale  of  love,  and  there  is  fellowship  and 
good-will  one  toward  another,  and  there  is  enthusiasm  in  co- 
operative labors  of  benevolence,  and  all  discords  die  out,  and 
old  quarrels  are  settled,  and  stubborn  hatreds  disappear  of 
themselves.  The  light  and  warmth  of  love  at  times  are  like 
the  summer  sun  in  March  and  April,  which  destroys  that 
snow  which  all  the  winds  could  not  blow  away.  On  special 
occasions  all  things  go  down  before  it ;  and  for  moments  we 
have  an  intermittent  experience  of  what  a  church  would  be 
if  all  its  members  were  inflamed  with  a  spirit  of  love. 

And  suppose  that  not  only  one  whole  church,  but  all  the 
churches  of  any  one  great  denomination,  had  this  spirit  as  a 
prime  element  of  faith  continually  burning  within  them!  If 
you  have  that  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  love,  you  are  right,  and 
are  in  affiliation  with  God.  If  you  have  it  not,  you  are  so  far 
wrong.  You  are  wrong,  not  in  proportion  as  you  vary  from 
articles  of  faith,  and  not  in  proportion  as  you  go  from  this 
heterodoxy  toward  that  orthodoxy.  True  orthodoxy  is  right- 
ness  of  heart.  Orthodoxy  is  nothing  if  its  pervading  and 


THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE.  57 

controlling  element  is  not  love.  If  orthodoxy  is  to  be  of  any 
value,  it  must  bear  blossoms  as  well  as  leaves,  and  fruit  as 
well  as  blossoms  ;  and  that  fruit  must  spring  from  a  loving 
disposition.  And  in  order  to  reap  the  full  fruition  of  love,  it 
must  be  atmospheric  and  continuous.  And  when  it  is  the 
fashion  for  men  to  manifest  this  feeling  at  all  times ;  when 
it  has  currents,  and  electric  influences,  and  communal  forces 
overhanging  the  church  and  the  community  as  a  summer- 
brooding  atmosphere  overhangs  a  continent,  then  it  will  have 
power  to  subdue  the  passions  and  appetites  in  men. 

But  more,  love  must,  by  the  example  and  stimulation  of 
the  church,  be  exalted  and  made  a  working  force  in  society. 
Broad  social  relations  must  be  cast  according  to  its  directions 
and  determinations.  All  civic  and  judicial  proceedings,  all 
police  arrangements,  all  affairs  of  legislation,  all  conduct  of 
business,  also,  must  be  guided  and  controlled  by  this  same 
element  before  it  will  have  its  perfect  work  in  the  world. 

I  am  not  speaking  of  the  possibility  of  bringing  about 
this  result  to-day  or  to-morrow ;  but  such  is  the  ultimate 
tendency.  And,  when  love  is  the  crowning  virtue ;  when 
it  is  the  main  experience  of  the  individual ;  when  it  is  the 
great  element  of  churches,  by  which  one  is  joined  to  another ; 
when  it  is  the  atmosphere  in  which  the  processes  of  society 
are  developed  and  carried  on  ;  when  we  recognize,  at  all  times 
and  in  all  places,  that  selfishness  is  heterodoxy,  and  that  love 
is  orthodoxy ;  and  when  the  public  sentiment  of  the  whole 
community  is  surcharged  with  this  divine  principle,  then  will 
come  in  another  and  a  final  element — namely,  that  of  he- 
redity . 

You  cannot  re-create  the  world  so  fast  at  the  adult  end 
as  you  can  breed  sinners  at  the  childhood  end.  If  men  are 
to  be  born  into  life  with  such  disproportion  of  disposition, 
and  with  such  malformation  of  body,  if  whole  generations  of 
men  are  to  carry  in  themselves  the  sins  and  the  tendencies  of 
sin  which  have  been  accumulating  for  generations  back,  then 
you  cannot  convert  them  so  fast  as  to  make  any  great  head- 
way in  the  world ;  bat,  as  moral  qualities  are  transmissible  as 
well  as  immoral  qualities,  when  the  church  has  done  its  duty 
and  society  is  leavened  by  the  spirit  of  love,  then  there  will 


58  THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE. 

be,  as  a  part  of  the  co-operative  plan  of  God's  providence, 
larger  and  larger  proportions  of  children  born  into  life  with 
this  great  principle  more  and  more  clearly  recognized  tban  it 
was  even  in  tbe  days  of  Moses,  when,  as  we  are  told,  in  the 
Old  Testament,  blessings  were  sent  down  from  parents  to 
children,  and  to  their  children's  children.  Men  will  be 
started  in  the  world  on  a  higher  plane,  and  in  a  condition  such 
that  the  animal  faculties  will  bo  brought  under  the  control  of 
the  moral  and  spiritual  faculties  more  and  more  easily.  And 
at  last,  under  the  inspiration  of  the  providence  of  God,  and 
under  the  influence  of  the  church  of  Christ,  operating  to- 
gether, the  true  gospel  will  be  established.  I  do  not  despair 
of  the  time  when  the  earth  shall  be  filled  with  men  who  are 
centered  on  love,  who  are  governed  by  love,  and  who  through 
love  govern  one  another. 

I  remark,  then,  first,  in.  view  of  this  development  of  the 
love-disposition,  in  all  its  forms,  that  the  intellectual  elements 
will  help  indirectly.  Increase  of  knowledge  as  to  the  condi- 
tions of  a  man's  life,  his  structure,  and  the  best  conditions 
of  society,  with  all  its  forces — this  tends  to  build  up  the  out- 
ward form  of  our  life.  It  throws  its  light  on  the  true  lines 
of  development. 

Far,  therefore,  should  ib  be  from  any  wise  'man  to  deride 
the  progress  of  scientific  knowledge.  What  we  affirm  is, 
that  this  knowledge  is  not  that  which  b  to  convert  the  lower 
man,  the  ordinary  flesh-man,  into  the  c/pirit-man.  Nothing 
will  do  this  but  the  disposition  of  love. 

We  recognize  the  value  of  thought ;  we  recognize  the 
value  of  exactitude  of  statement ;  we  recognize  the  value  of 
the  discovery  of  the  arrangements  of  the  truths  of  scientific 
research  ;  we  hold  that  true  religion  demands  the  growth  of 
man  all  around,  and,  if  possible,  consentaneously  ;  but  after 
all,  the  central  element  of  manhood  lies  not  in  the  direction 
of  knowledge,  but  in  the  direction  of  disposition.  The  in- 
tellect is  not  the  master  :  it  is  the  servant.  Dealing  with 
matter,  it  is  more  nearly  independent  than  under  any  other 
circumstances  ;  but  the  moment  the  intellect  has  to  do  with 
the  facts  of  interior  human  life,  with  the  conscience  of  man, 
with  nature  in  its  most  highly  developed  form  (for  nature  de- 


THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE.  59 

veloped  means  man  and  mankind) — that  moment  it  is  itself 
the  subject  of  the  lower  faculties. 

A  man  can  understand  only  that  of  which  he  has  some- 
thing in  himself.  If  a  man  has  goodness  in  him,  then  good- 
ness flashes  into  his  intellect,  and  he  discerns  it.  The 
intellect  is  dependent  upon  the  disposition.  If  it  be  a 
problem  of  truth,  justice,  humanity,  rectitude,  or  large  be- 
nevolence that  is  to  be  looked  at,  the  intellect  is  absolutely 
obliged  to  stand  and  wait  till  the  disposition  throws  its  light 
into  it,  in  order  that  it  may  interpret  its  nature.  The  intel- 
lect therefore  is  subordinate.  This  is  the  very  antithesis  of 
Buckle's  theory. 

Secondly,  the  Christian  forces  of  the  world  to-day  are 
struggling,  like  Esau  and  Jacob  in  the  womb — quarreling  as 
to  whether  or  not  the  world's  religious  growth  is  to  stand  in 
its  outward  relations  and  regulations  and  doctrinal  lines,  or 
not.  That  is  the  struggle  of  the  churches  to-day.  You  may 
look  through  Christendom  and  you  will  find  that  there  is 
everywhere  a  high  and  a  low  party — a  party  of  liberty  and  a 
party  of  authority — though  neither  party  altogether  realize 
what  they  are  doing  or  know  what  they  mean.  The  struggle 
of  to-day  is  not  between  two  parties — one  that  represents 
selfishness,  and  arrogance,  and  pride,  and  self-seeking,  and 
the  other  that  represents  love  as  the  central  element,  and 
demands  that  everything  else  shall  be  under  its  control ; 
though  that  is  the  battle  which  must  be  fought  out  before 
the  Lord  shall  reign  in  the  hearts  of  men.  But  the  conflict 
of  the  time  indicates  the  rebellion  of  thinking  religious  men 
against  the  bonds  with  which  ecclesiasticism  seeks  to  hold 
them  bound. 

Look  at  the  struggle  in  the  Roman  church  abroad. 
What  mean  all  these  fitful  outbursts  in  the  direction  of 
liberty  under  the  lead  of  Pere  Hyacinthe  and  his  German 
colleagues,  in  which  men  attempt  to  break  away  from  the 
restraints  of  an  external  system  which  surrounds  them  ?  The 
quarrel  is  between  the  liberty  of  man's  understanding  and 
authority  in  externalities  and  in  faiths. 

Look  at  the  condition  of  the  Church  of  England.  It  is 
broken  up  into  some  four  sects.  If  you  were  only  to  cut  one 


60  THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE. 

or  two  of  its  hoops,  four  churches  would  spring  out  of  the 
Church  of  England  to-day.  There  used  to  be  a  time  when 
the  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  had  tbeir  little  pet 
quarrels  on  hand,  and  when  the  Episcopal  church  used  to 
open  its  great  slumberous  doors,  and  say,  "  0  brethren, 
come  into  this  harbor  of  peace,  and  rest."  The  time  was 
when  they  had  good  rest.  They  slept  soundly  !  But  they 
do  not  extend  that  invitation  to  those  of  other  denominations 
any  longer.  It  is  too  sarcastic.  It  would  be  absurd  to  throw 
open  the  great  cathedral  doors  of  England,  and  say  to  any- 
body, "  Come  in  here,  so  as  to  get  out  of  dispute  and 
debate."  Why,  there  are  four  fighting  armies  on  the  field 
spiritual  there  to-day. 

Go  and  look  at  the  condition  of  things  in  France  and 
Germany,  and  see  what  the  struggles  of  Christianity  are.  See 
how  largely  they  are  external.  See  how  much  is  being  written 
which  relates  merely  to  its  outward  features.  See  how  all 
the  schools  are  studying  back  along  through  books  and 
libraries  to  establish  the  usages  of  the  past.  See  how  every- 
body is  working  to  ascertain  what  are  the  relations  of  Papacy  ; 
what  is  the  right  of  bishops ;  what  is  the  condition  of  the 
ministry  ;  what  is  the  status  of  the  priesthood  ;  what  is  the 
nature  of  the  organization  of  the  church  ;  what  is  liberty  in 
a  church  ;  what  is  servility  in  a  church  ;  how  far  the  observ- 
ance of  ordinances  should  be  carried  ;  what  is  right  or  what 
is  wrong  on  this,  that,  or  the  other  subject. 

The  whole  Christian  world  to-day  is  embattled  on  these 
externalities ;  and  the  power  of  the  church  is  not  now,  any 
more  than  it  has  been  at  any  other  time,  concentrated  in 
this  :  Man  must  be  like  God  in  loving. 

Now,  there  will  never  be  a  conversion  of  this  world  until 
there  is  an  enthusiasm  of  love  ;  until  men  at  last  understand 
that  the  kingdom  of  God  comes  without  observation  ;  until 
it  is  recognized  that  Christianity  may  make  use  of  anything 
which  will  promote  its  objects,  but  that  it  does  not  stand  in 
external  forms,  in  governments,  in  orders,  in  ordinances,  in  a 
priesthood,  in  the  ministrations  of  the  sanctuary,  nor  in 
scholastic  appliances  of  any  kind  ;  until  men  believe  that  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  within  them,  and  that  it  is  made  up  of 


THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE.  61 

the  fruits  of  the  Spirit — love,  peace,  joy,  humility,  and  good- 
will toward  men.  If  you  throw  this  out,  you  throw  every- 
thing out.  You  may  erect  your  cathedrals  till  they  kiss  the 
heavens  with  gold,  you  may  build  your  altars  till  they  glow  like 
the  rainbow,  you  may  drape  your  priests,  and  let  them  walk 
in  solemn  processions,  you  may  have  your  songs,  your  chants 
and  your  music  in  the  sanctuary  ;  and  yet,  without  love  these 
things  are  nothing,  or  are  like  the  bubble  which  the  boy 
blows,  which  he  tosses  in  the  air,  in  which  he  sees  his  face 
for  an  instant,  and  which  is  then  gone  forever. 

And  after  two  thousand  years,  in  which  the  example  of 
Christ  has  been  held  up  to  teach  the  world  what  love  means, 
how  much  does  the  world  know  of  its  meaning  ?  Love  means 
willingness  to  suffer ;  it  means  what  the  mother  in  her 
heart  feels  toward  her  babe,  and  who  will  perish  in  the  snow, 
in  the  sun,  or  in  the  flame,  to  save  that  babe  which  is  dearer 
to  her  than  her  own  life — it  means  all  these  things  ;  but  who 
will  ever  learn  it  ?  0  ye  that  will  not  learn  it  of  Christ,  will 
ye  not  learn  it  of  motherhood  ?  Love  that  counts  itself 
nothing,  love  that  is  a  force  for  good  and  for  happiness  ; 
love  that  is  patient,  bearing  all  things,  enduring  all  things, 
believing  all  things,  and  waiting,  without  envy,  without 
jealousy,  without  vanity  and  without  incivility ;  love,  with 
all  its  wondrous  traits — where  have  you  ever  found  a  church 
that  was  filled  with  it  ?  Where  have  you  ever  found  a 
denomination  that  was  marked  off  from  other  denominations 
by  the  essential  predominance  of  this  quality  ?  Here  we  are 
sending  our  missionaries  to  the  heathen,  and  quarreling  at 
home  !  [Applause.]  Yes,  you  enjoy  it  when  I  lay  it  on 
others,  but  you  are  just  as  bad  as  they  are.  There  exists  yet 
the  old  essential  depravity.  It  is  that  which  has  wrought 
woe,  and  mischief,  and  blood,  and  tears,  and  suffering,  and 
torments  unutterable,  since  the  world  began.  In  the  name 
of  religion  the  rack  has  ground  bones  to  powder.  In  the 
name  of  religion,  the  priest  has  blown  the  taper,  and  put  it 
under  the  faggot.  In  the  name  of  religion  men  have  been 
cast  out  of  home  and  out  of  country.  In  the  name  of  relig- 
ion men  have  been  thrashed  with  flails,  poisoned  with  serpent 
fangs.  In  the  name  of  religion  there  have  been  criticisms 


62  THE  PRIMACY   OF  LOVE. 

and  agitations  and  persecutions  endless.  In  the  name  of 
religion  in  church  organization,  there  has  been  every  spirit 
manifested  but  that  of  patience  and  gentleness  and  sweetness 
and  love,  which  brings  a  man  into  God's  bosom,  and  brings 
the  bosom  of  God  among  mankind.  That  we  have  not  seen. 
God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  His  son  to  die  for  it ; 
but  we  have  not  yet  learned  to  appreciate  and  to  appropriate 
that  dearest  gift.  The  love  of  Christ  was  manifested  in  this: 
that  he  died  for  men  while  they  were  his  enemies;  but  we 
have  not  yet  learned  what  that  was.  And  we  are  not  in 
danger  of  going  to  the  extreme  in  that  direction. 

Our  trouble  does  not  lie  in  this:  that  the  hoops  are  not 
tight  enough  on  the  church  barrel.  It  lies  in  this :  that  the 
hoops,  being  tight  enough,  are  on  empty  barrels,  or  on  barrels 
in  which  the  wine  has  turned  to  vinegar.  And  yet  we  go  on 
coopering,  and  coopering,  and  coopering,  driving  the  hoops 
down  here,  and  driving  them  down  there ;  and,  after  all, 
when  we  look  on  the  inside  we  find  nothing  there  that  is 
worth  keeping.  This,  in  my  judgment,  is  the  sin  of  the 
world.  In  the  times  of  men's  ignorance  God  winked  at  their 
sin;  but  we  are  born  to  a  better  day  than  they  were,  to  better 
light,  to  better  instruction,  to  better  uses.  It  is  not  enough 
for  you  to  be  as  good  as  men  were  who  lived  five  hundred  years 
ago.  Your  business  is  to  be  infinitely  better  than  they  were. 

One  thing  more.  While  I  speak  of  the  relative  subsidence 
of  all  external  things,  or  their  subordination  to  divine  love 
in  the  human  disposition,  you  must  not  understand  me  a^ 
undervaluing  auxiliaries;  you  must  not  interpret  my  words 
as  meaning  that  it  does  not  matter  what  a  man  believes,  and 
that  there  is  no  difference  between  one  form  of  organization 
and  another;  but  I  say  that  where  the  heart  of  the  individual 
and  of  the  whole  church  is  surcharged  with  the  spirit  of  God, 
it  is  the  nature  of  that  spirit  to  act  on  the  human  under- 
standing, and  rectify  what  aberrations  there  may  be  in  all 
instruments,  and  fill  every  heart  with  this  divine  element. 
You  cannot  think  right  or  do  right  unless  you  have  the 
principle  of  love  at  the  root  of  your  thought  and  action;  and 
with  that  principle  you  cannot  go  wrong.  It  is  the  helm  of 
the  soul.  It  is  the  pilot  by  which  God  is  to  guide  this  old 


THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE.  63 

staggering  world  through  all  darkness  and  all  storms  into 
the  haven  of  peace  and  rest.  Under  its  guidance  the  world 
will  oro  right ;  but  without  it  mankind  will  still  have  the 

o  o         * 

same  wearisome  strifes  that  it  has  ever  had. 

The  church  is  never  much  more  than  a  bucket  of  water 
dipped  out  of  the  ocean.  The  water  is  the  same  in  the  bucket 
and  in  the  ocean  ;  but  in  the  one  case  it  is  in  the  bucket, 
and  in  the  other  it  is  in  tho  ocean — that  is  all.  You  are  in 
the  church  ;  yes,  but  your  nature  is  the  same  that  it  was  when 
you  were  in  the  world.  You  are  as  greedy  for  money  now  as 
you  were  before.  You  are  in  the  church ;  but  you  are  as 
proud  and  sensitive  about  th3  infringement  of  your  rights 
as  anybody.  You  are  not  willing  to  lie  down  that  some  other 
man  be  the  better  for  it ;  you  are  not  willing  to  surrender 
your  place  and  your  dignity  in  order  that  others  may  be  lifted 
up  and  benefited ;  you  are  not  willing  to  prostrate  yourself 
under  the  foot  of  an  enemy  because  it  will  make  him  a  better 
man  to  tread  on  you  ;  but  Jesus  said,  "  I  am  the  way,"  and 
generations  have  trodden  on  him  to  find  heaven  and  glory. 
How  many  men  say,  "  I  will  give  my  life,  if  need  be,  for  the 
cause  of  humanity,"  and  go  and  do  it  ?  Men  talk  about 
knowledge  and  about  eloquence  ;  but  what  are  words,  what  is 
philosophy,  what  is  learning,  what  is  the  intellect  itself,  as 
compared  with  this  one  flame  of  God,  this  all-cleansing,  all- 
nourishing,  all-guiding  love,  which,  when  a  man  has  it,  makes 
him  suffer  for  others,  and  makes  him  humble  himself  and 
bow  down  before  others,  in  order  that  he  may  show  that 
spirit  which  was  in  Christ  ?  When  once  love  is  supreme  in 
the  church,  and  such  Christians  are  in  it,  the  salvation  of  the 
race  will  not  linger  nor  delay. 

Christian  brethren,  T  feel,  from  day  to  day,  in  the  near- 
ness of  the  kingdom  that  is  to  come,  and  in  the  beauty  and 
glory  of  my  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  how  poor  and  worthless  are 
the  assaults  and  victories  which  racket  about  us  here.  They 
are  hardly  worthy  to  be  considered.  The  dear  thoughts  of 
God  toward  us  are  worth  more  than  all  the  thoughts  of  man- 
kind. How  we  shall  serve  Christ  by  love,  and  how  we  shall 
in  our  turn  be  Christlike  toward  men,  whether  they  love  us 
or  hate  us — these  questions  transcend  in  importance,  to  you 


64  THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE. 

and  to  me,  all  questions  of  empires,  all  questions  of  science, 
all  other  questions.  He  that  is  humblest,  he  that  is  meekest, 
he  that  is  most  like  a  little  child — I  take  him,  in  the  name 
of  Jesus,  and  place  him  in  your  midst,  and  say,  ; '  Honor 
the  childlike  heart,  the  heart  that  gives  up,  the  heart  that 
sacrifices  its  pride  and  interest  for  the  sake  of  another's  wel- 
fare. It  is  the  soul  that  can  lay  down  its  weapons  of  pride, 
and  not  the  soul  that  can  take  up  and  wield  them,  that  is 
nearest  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  the  best  representative  of 
the  Master.  And  when  this  spirit  of  love  shall  once  be  con- 
tagious, infectious,  and  atmospheric,  then  we  shall  hear  the 
word  of  God  sounding  through  the  heavens,  and  saying, 
"  Arise,  shine  ;  for  thy  light  is  come,  and  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  is  risen  upon  thee. " 

And  then,  0  earth,  the  scowling  cloud  that  has  overhung 
thee  shall  be  struck  through  with  light,  bearing  the  colors  of 
heaven.  Then,  0  world,  groaning  and  travailing  in  pain 
until  now,  thy  tears  shall  cease,  and  thy  groans  shall  be  ended. 
And  little  by  little,  as  birds  begin  to  sing  in  the  morning, 
first  one,  and  then  three,  and  then  five,  and  then  a  score, 
and  then  a  hundred,  and  then  all  in  the  whole  region  burst- 
ing forth,  so  there  shall  go  up  from  out  of  this  world  single 
strains  of  joy  and  triumph,  and  then  more,  and  then  still 
more,  until  at  last  they  shall  roll  as  the  waves  of  the  sea 
and  the  thunders  of  heaven,  as  the  voice  of  a  multitude,  or 
as  the  sound  of  mighty  waters. 


THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE.  65 

PRAYEK  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

WE  beseech  of  thee,  our  Father,  to  lift  us  up  above  the  dominion 
of  our  senses,  and  above  the  influence  of  care  and  trouble,  and  the 
sound  of  things  upon  the  earth,  into  that  sacred  stillness  where  thy 
Spirit  communicates— into  that  realm  where  we  know  thee,  and 
know  not  how  we  know.  Breathe  upon  us  the  inward  tranquility 
and  silence  of  the  uttermost  thought  and  feeling,  that  God  may  beam 
in  upon  us  things  celestial. 

Grant,  we  pray  thee,  this  day,  such  a  sense  of  the  glory  of  our  in- 
heritance, such  joy  unspeakable,  such  gladness  in  view  of  that  life 
which  waits  for  us,  and  such  a  sense  of  the  gentleness  of  Christ,  of  the 
iuflniteness  of  his  love,  of  the  wonderful  tenderness  of  his  compas- 
sion, and  of  the  transcendent  patience  and  gentleness  of  his  adminis- 
tration, that  we  shall  seem  to  ourselves  surrounded  with  all  the 
forces  of  the  infinite  and  of  the  omnipotent,  and  with  all  the  glory 
and  wisdom  of  the  life  above,  so  that  we  may  not  stand  for  a  moment 
in  any  sense  of  our  own  wisdom,  or  power,  or  excellence.  For  to  us 
there  is  something  better  than  that — the  love  of  God ;  the  bosom  of 
thy  kindness;  thy  disposition  of  goodness.  How  sure  a  refuge  it  is! 
and  how  blessed  are  they  who  are  able,  in  opening  their  eyes,  to  be- 
hold thy  face  smiling  upon  them,  and  saying  to  them,  In  me  is  thy 
strength. 

Lord  God,  if  thou  art  willing,  we  are  at  last  made  willing  in  th» 
day  of  thy  power.  We  strive  by  all  the  strength  that  is  in  us  to  lay 
aside  our  pride ;  thou  knowest  that  we  have  battles  with  ourselves; 
and  though  we  are  so  small,  and  so  far  away  from  thee,  none  of  our 
strifes  and  struggles  are  insignificant  in  thy  sight.  Thou  knowest 
that  we  strive  to  lay  aside  selfishness,  and  all  its  hateful  brood;  and 
thou  beholdest  with  what  ill  success  we  labor;  and  thou  seest  how  we 
lift  up  feeble  hands,  tired  at  the  oar,  and  pray  for  that  wind  from 
thee  which  shall  waft  us  against  the  forces  of  our  nature,  and  the 
forces  of  life  and  corrupted  society.  Thou  knowest  how  we  are  be- 
stead by  the  powers  of  the  world  around  about  us,  and  by  the  princes 
of  the  power  of  the  air.  Thou  art  not  ignorant  of  the  host  of  temp- 
tations which  are  brought  to  bear  upon  us.  Thou  beholdest  how  all 
our  most  precious  senses  and  faculties  beguile  us,  and  lead  us  away 
from  the  true  path.  Thou  seest  how  strong  we  are  toward  the  things 
of  the  flesh,  and  how  feeble  we  are  toward  the  things  of  the  spirit. 
Our  helplessness  is  such  that  we  seem  to  ourselves  like  children  that 
have  been  lost  on  a  ship,  and  are  in  the  midst  of  the  mighty  deep, 
with  the  storm  above  them  and  the  waves  around  them,  and  with 
nothing  to  save  them.  O  Lord,  our  God,  thou  art  the  Saviour  of 
Israel.  Not  by  what  thou  hast  done,  but  by  what  thou  art,  and  hast 
been  from  all  eternity,  thou  art  the  Saviour  of  the  lost.  This  is  thy 
Godship,  this  is  the  meaning  of  thy  holiness,  and  this  is  the  great  truth 
of  the  sanctuary  of  thy  nature — that  thou  dost  love  the  unlovely,  and 
strengthen  the  weak,  and  bring  back  the  wandering,  and  restore  the 
souls  of  those  that  have  gone  astray ;  and  that  by  the  power  of  good- 
ness thou  dost  inspire  goodness ;  and  that  by  everlasting  love  thou 
dost  wait  patiently  for  the  healing  of  every  soul,  and  for  its  forma- 
tion in  thin,  own  image. 


6(5  THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE. 

Now,  we  worship  thee,  and  rejoice  in  ihee.  We  praise  and  magnify 
thy  name,  not  because  we  must,  but  because  our  souls  do  ache  within 
us  to  give  back  to  thee  something  of  that  which  we  feel  that  we  are 
receiving  in  overmeasure  every  day  and  every  hour.  And  if  all  the 
flowers  of  the  field  by  their  fragrance  do  not  cease  to  speak  of  their 
dependence  upon  the  sun  that  created  them,  what  should  be  the  vol- 
ume of  the  praise  and  joy  which  should  go  up  from  the  multitudes  of 
flowering  hearts  which  thou,  Sun  of  Righteousness,  hast,  with  the 
kindling  of  thy  beams,  brought  into  life  and  beauty?  Oh,  that  there 
might  be  a  wider  sense  of  thy  presence  in  us!  Oh,  that  there  might  be 
a  joining  together  of  heart  to  heart!  And  as  we  humble  ourselves, 
and  are  conscious  of  our  weakness  and  our  littleness,  Oh,  that  a  tide  of 
gratitude  might  flow  forth  to-day,  the  songs  of  heaven  mingling  with 
the  songs  of  earth  in  praising  thee,  Lord  God  Almighty,  in  love,  and 
wisdom,  and  power,  for  what  thou  art,  and  for  what  thou  art  doing. 

And  now,  we  beseech  of  thee,  that  thou  wilt  glorify  thyself  by  the 
services,  by  the  sacrifices,  by  the  suffering,  by  the  joy,  by  the  life, 
by  the  activity,  by  the  standing  still  of  thy  servants— by  all  their  ex- 
perience. And  we  pray,  to-day,  that  thou  wilt  fill  them  with  such  a 
eense  of  thy  goodness  to  them,  and  of  the  graciousness  of  thy  love  to 
them,  that  they  shall  have  no  other  feelings  but  those  which  shall  rise 
spontaneously  into  the  feelings  of  God  himself — that  our  thought,  and 
our  feeling,  and  our  will,  and  all  our  affections  may  be  swallowed  up 
in  thine. 

O,  bring  near  to  us  the  other  life.  Dear  Lord,  there  are  many 
souls  that  are  very  sick,  and  that  would  be  healed  if  they  might  but 
once  look  into  thy  heart.  There  are  many  who  are  filled  with  pain : 
reach  down  one  leaf  from  the  tree  of  life  that  they  may  find  their 
usual  strength.  There  are  many  who  cannot  see  tbee  because  the 
images  of  their  dear  children  are  in  their  way :  through  their  beloved 
let  them  see  thee  come  forth  to  them,  bearing  their  infants  in  their 
arms  and  blessing  them  again.  There  are  those  who  stand  in  solitari- 
ness, and  hardly  know  their  own  soul  in  its  fitful  griefs  and  wild 
mazes  of  suffering:  thou  Comforter,  who  hast  dealt  with  sorrow  from 
the  beginning,  canst  thou  not  deal  with  their  sorrows  and  bereave- 
ments? 

Behold  those,  we  beseech  of  thee,  who  seem  toiling  in  vain ;  who 
are  borne  down  by  burdens  which  are  heavier  than  they  can  bear; 
whose  hearts  are  filled  with  innumerable  cares  and  troubles.  O,  thou 
blessed  One,  thou  that  canst  bring  forth  from  the  mute  earth  and 
dead  matter  things  which  are  rare  and  beautiful,  canst  thou  not, 
from  the  spent  and  parched  soil  of  souls,  bring  forth  all  sweet  and 
pleasant  experiences?  May  the  wilderness  bud  and  blossom  as  the 
rose  in  many  a  dry  heart ! 

Lord  Jesus,  we  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  will  revive  thy  work  here 
again.  Show  forth,  we  pray  thee,  thy  power,  as  in  days  gone  by,  and 
fill  this  house  with  rejoicing,  not  for  ourselves,  but  for  the  excellency 
and  the  glory  of  thine  own  name. 

Now,  we  pray  thee  that  thou  wilt  teach  us,  more  and  more,  les- 
sons of  trust,  lessons  of  peace,  and  lessons  of  contentment,  in  the  way 
of  the  Lord  God  toward  us,  and  lead  us  in  thine  own  way,  so  that  we 
may  not  stumble  nor  be  beyond  the  reach  of  thine  hand,  or  the  hear- 


THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE.  67 

ing  of  thine  ear,  or  the  throbs  of  thine  heart.  We  pray  that  thus  we 
may  walk,  fulfilling  the  errands  of  God  in  this  life,  till  the  hour  of 
our  departing  shall  come.  Then,  O  thou  that  hast  known  the  way 
of  death,  and  through  it  the  way  of  triumph,  become  our  God ;  and 
when  we  walk  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  may  we  fear  no  evil. 
May  thy  love  inspire,  and  sustain,  an  1  comfort  us. 

Nor  would  we  stand  praying  alone  for  ourselves.  Look  upon  thy 
people  of  every  name;  upon  all  thy  churches;  upon  thy  ministering 
servants  everywhere;  and  grant  that  this  may  be  a  day  in  which  the 
hearts  of  all  thy  people  shall  be  filled  with  a  sense  of  God  present — 
Immanuel. 

O  Lord  God,  wilt  thou  revive  thy  cause  everywhere.  Bless  those 
who,  in  far-off  and  destitute  places,  toil  in  weakness,  and  sickness, 
and  with  hope  deferred.  Help  them  that  their  faith  may  not  fail. 
Be  with  those  exiled  ones  who  are  in  the  midst  of  the  poor  and  the 
ignorant,  and  without  companionship,  and  under  the  scorn  and  even 
the  rejection  of  m.'.n,  seeking  still  to  imprint  the  image  of  Christ  upon 
the  souls  of  such  as  are  lying  in  darkness.  Lord,  breathe  their  re- 
ward upon  their  souls  In  that  peace,  in  that  faith,  which  never  shall 
fail. 

Draw  near  to  all  those,  we  pray  thee,  everywhere,  who  are  seeking 
to  build  the  ways  of  men  upon  a  purer  morality,  and  to  inspire  a  no- 
bler manhood.  Grant  thy  blessing  to  all  those  who  are  extending  the 
bounds  of  human  knowledge,  and  are  endeavoring  to  build  up  the 
foundations  of  human  life  more  and  more  compactly.  And  we  pray 
that  thou,  who  art  the  Guide  of  mankind  and  hast  been  from  the 
beginning,  and  that  art  marching  from  triumph  to  triumph  unto 
eternity,  wilt  let  thy  providence,  which  has  inspired  and  guided  thy 
people  in  all  times,  bring  forth  in  this  nation  and  in  every  nation  the 
peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness.  From  the  brightness  of  thy  com- 
ing may  all  darkness  flee.  And  with  darkness  may  ignorance  go,  and 
superstition,  and  cruelty,  and  every  evil  thing.  May  all  the  earth  see 
thy  salvation. 

And  to  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  shall  be 
praises  everlasting.  Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

OtTB  Father,  we  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  bless  us  In  the 
truth,  and  bring  to  us  a  sense  of  our  own  deficiencies  of  knowledge — 
not  knowledge  of  ideas,  nor  of  things,  but  above  all,  knowledge  of 
self-sacrifice  and  of  humiliation  for  others'  sake.  Make  us  feel  how 
base  we  are  in  our  selfishness.  We  call  ourselves  Christians ;  and  yet 
how  far  we  are  from  perfection!  How  many  faults  we  have!  O 
Lord,  we  beseech  of  thee  that  we  may  be  more  and  more  mellow,  and 
brought  into  that  love,  like  Christ's,  which  was  willing  to  lay  down 
its  life  a  ransom,  by  its  sufferings,  for  those  who  were  not  only  sinful, 
but  arrogant  and  inimical.  We  pray  that  thou  wilt  fill  this  church, 
and  fill  all  the  churches  of  the  city,  and  all  the  churches  of  our  land, 


68  THE  PRIMACY  OF  LOVE. 

with  this  divine  impulse.  Oh,  how  weak  we  are !  Pitying,  waiting 
God,  how  wonderful  is  thy  long-suffering !  Yet,  give  not  up  the  work 
of  thy  hand.  Thou  that  art  the  Author,  be  the  Finisher,  of  the  faith 
of  thy  people.  And  finally,  when  we  have  gone  through  our  own 
discipline,  and  our  own  limited  life,  and  are  called,  and  we  fly  up- 
ward with  joy,  imperfect  as  we  are,  ransomed  by  the  love  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus,  may  we  find  ourselves  joined  to  those  who  have  gone 
before  to  the  General  Assembly  and  the  church  of  the  first  born ;  yea, 
may  we  find  ourselves  joined  to  thee,  O  Jesus.  And  we  will  give  the 
praise  of  our  salvation  to  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit, 
Amen. 


FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION. 


"IE  ye  then  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those  things  which  are 
above,  where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  baud  of  God.  Set  your 
affection  on  things  above,  not  on  things  on  the  earth.  For  ye  are 
dead,  and  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  When  Christ  who  is 
our  life  shall  appear,  then  shall  ye  also  appear  with  him  in  glory." — 
Col.  iii.  1-4. 


Taken  by  itself,  the  Christian  teaching  on  the  subject  of 
the  resurrection  of  Christ  has,  from  the  earliest  days,  been 
laid  open  to  many  objections.  Much  philosophical  opposition 
lias  been  arrayed  against  it,  and  much  exceedingly  ingenious 
apology  has  been  written  for  it.  It  is  not  fair  to  take  any 
one  of  the  elements — the  capital  elements — of  the  history  of 
Jesus,  and  discuss  it  as  if  it  stood  alone.  They  are  or- 
ganic elements ;  they  belong  to  a  composite  whole  ;  and  we 
cannot  get  the  best  and  the  truest  light  except  we  judge,  not 
simply  of  the  probable  value  of  single  individual  features,  but 
of  the  combined  whole. 

If  one  should  see  a  brow  upon  a  transparency  or  a 
canvas,  it  might  be  subject  to  criticism  which  if  it  were 
joined  to  the  whole  face  would  not  be  justified.  We  should 
think  it  unfair  if  a  human  face  were  dissected,  and  we  were 
called  to  form  a  judgment  in  respect  to  the  mouth,  the  nose, 
the  pair  of  eyes  or  the  brows.  We  should  say  under  such 
circumstances,  "Put  them  together  ;  for  that  which  they  are 
is  not  simply  what  each  is  by  itself,  but  what  they  are  by 
their  symmetry  and  proportions  with  each  other." 

Now,  the  history  of  our  Saviour  must  be  judged  as  a 

(EASTERN  SUNDAY  MORNING,  April  5,  1874.    'LESSON':  Col.  111.  1-17.    HYMNS 

(Plymouth  Collection) :  Xos.  40, 364, 551. 


72  FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION. 

whole,  and  not  merely  in  its  separate  elements.  No  single 
great  feature  of  the  revelation  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ 
followed  the  light  of  foregoing  probabilities.  At  every  step 
expectation  was  disappointed  ;  nor  until  ages,  in  many  cases, 
were  certain  elements  justified  by  results  which  had  not  been 
suspected.  The  conception  of  redeeming  from  their  animal 
conditions  an  under  race,  raising  them  from  physical  life  to 
spiritual — not  by  miraculous  power,  not  by  lifting  them  sud- 
denly up  through  all  stages  and  spheres,  but  by  a  gradual 
unfolding,  by  increment  upon  increment — this  whole  con- 
ception was  hidden  from  the  wisdom  of  antiquity ;  and  yet 
it  was  beyond  all  question  the  divine  method,  and  the  Script- 
ural method. 

The  nature  of  Jesus  as  God's  representative,  as  from  God, 
as  very  God  in  the  flesh,  cannot  answer  exactly  to  God  in  the 
spirit.  Jesus  Christ,  therefore,  is  the  manifestation  of  God 
not  in  entirety — not  in  the  full  amplitude  of  divine  attributes. 
Only  so  much  of  God's  nature  was  made  manifest  as  was 
within  the  sphere  of  that  intelligence  to  which  the  Saviour 
came.  The  circumscription  of  human  faculty  limited  the 
degree  to  which  there  could  be  a  manifestation  of  the  full 
nature  of  God.  How  much  you  can  tell  to  a  child  does  not 
depend  upon  how  much  you  know,  nor  upon  what  the  force 
of  the  English  language  is,  but  upon  what  is  the  condition  of 
the  child's  mind.  You  are  stopped  by  those  absolute  limits 
which  belong  to  the  capacity  of  the  child  ;  and  all  that  is 
beyond  the  apprehension  of  the  child's  nature  is  surplus- 
age, so  far  as  the  child  is  concerned.  We  speak,  there- 
fore, of  the  incarnation  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  not  as  if  the 
absolute  and  infinite  and  universal  God  walked  in  Christ 
upon  the  earth,  and  so  was  represented  by  him,  but  as  if  so 
much  of  God  as  could  be  made  manifest  through  the  flesh 
was  disclosed,  the  residue  being  hid  in  the  divine  nature, 
which  is  unapproachable  and  unintelligible  to  us  in  our  con- 
ditions. 

That  Christ  should  have  been  born  among  the  Jews  would 
seem  strange  to  every  nation  upon  the  earth  except  the  Jews. 
That  he  should  have  been  born  of  the  family  that  he  was  born 
of  surprises  those  who  take  only  a  superficial  view  of  his  mis- 


FORETUKI-:\X  OF  RESURRECTION.  73 

sion.  That  he  should  have  been  born  from  a  peasant  work- 
man's family,  obscure,  and  under  circumstances  so  out  of  the 
way  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  of  anything  lower — 
this  seems  marvelous  to  some.  And  yet  the  birth  of  Christ 
in  a  cave  (for  doubtless  the  stable  in  which  he  was  born  was 
a  cave)  in  some  way  carries  us  back  to  the  cave-life  of  man- 
kind, when  they  were  scarcely  more  than  abject  animals.  He 
began  at  the  bottom.  He  was  born  where  the  race  first 
herded,  of  the  obscure,  among  working  men  ;  and  yet  the  ties 
of  relationship  coupled  him  with  all  that  was  most  memorable 
and  noble  in  Jewish  association. 

When  we  come  to  consider  what  was  the  real  proposition 
— namely,  the  in-coming  of  Christ,  and  the  joining  of  him- 
self to  the  human  race  in  such  a  way  that  every  living 
creature  should  have  in  his  life  an  objective  token  of  God's 
sympathy  and  of  God's  purpose  to  save  every  individual  soul 
that  is  salvable — when  we  come  to  consider  what  that  was, 
then  all  discrepancies  and  improbabilities  disappear,  and  the 
plan  falls  into  place  most  admirably.  It  did  not  meet  fore- 
going expectation,  but  it  justifies  after  reflection. 

Throughout  his  life,  he  being  a  wanderer,  and  having  no- 
where to  lay  his  head,  those  miracles  which  have  excited  so 
much  reprobation,  so  much  suspicion,  and  so  much  skepticism, 
were  in  entire  accordance  with  the  marvel  of  the  divine 
nature — with  the  great  motive  and  purpose  for  which  he 
came  into  life  ;  and  they  held  on  their  way  consistently  with 
each  other  to  the  very  end  of  his  life. 

At  last  comes  the  final  and  the  grandest,  though  the  sad- 

.  scene  of  the  life  of  Christ— the  dreadfulest  fact  in 
human  earthly  life — dying  ;  but  he  who  had  come  from 
heaven  to  lift  up  the  race  ;  he  who  had  walked  among  those 
who  were  most  needy  ;  he  who  had  joined  the  infinite  power 
of  God  to  men  at  the  point  of  lowest  human  weakness,  that 
he  might  lift  the  race  out  of  the  sphere  in  which  they  were 
born  into  the  higher  sphere — he,  in  dying,  gave  a  moral  sig- 
nificance to  death  which  was  totally  revolutionary.  And 
since  Christ,  through  dying,  brought  life  and  immortality  to 
light,  death  is  itself  vanquished,  and  is  spoken  of  by  the 
apostles  as  a  conquered  foe. 


74  FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION. 

Now  comes  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,  as  the  climax 
of  such  a  history  as  this.  The  divine  nature  ;  the  reasons  of 
it ;  the  harmonious  execution  of  all  those  objects  that  brought 
God  into  human  conditions ;  that  detail  of  teaching  and  of 
miraculous  interference  ;  the  death  by  which  Death  itself  was 
to  be  divested  of  its  terror,  and  made  morally  significant — all 
these  require  an  appropriate  ending,  and  they  all  have  it  in 
the  fact  that  Christ  rose  again  from  the  dead,  and  became 
the  first  fruits  of  those  who  shall  die. 

Now,  looking  at  the  coming,  at  the  living,  at  the  dying, 
and  at  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  this  con- 
tinuous view,  where  was  there  ever  a  drama  so  sublime  ? 
Where  was  there  ever  one  lifted  up  so  far  above  any  possible 
conception  or  invention  of  man  ?  Where  was  there  ever  one 
which  included  in  its  scenes  and  contents  such  a  vast  sweep 
of  things  which  were  so  unimaginable  to  antiquity,  but 
which,  as  the  race  develops,  become  more  and  more  admira- 
ble to  men  ?  And  what  is  the  origin  of  such  a  life,  such  a 
progress,  and  such  a  disclosure  ?  What  is  its  origin  other 
than  divine,  which  is  so  large  in  its  scope,  and  so  wonderful 
in  its  contents,  that  men,  with  the  light  of  nature,  and  with 
successive  disclosures  in  history,  are  not  competent  to  take  in 
the  whole  of  it,  nor  even  a  full  conception  of  it  ? 

It  is  said  that  historical  Christianity  is  waning.  It  is 
waning,  if  at  all,  only  as  the  blossom  wanes,  that  the  apple 
or  the  orange  may  swell  under  it  into  life  and  beauty.  It 
may  be  that  there  are  many  conceptions  that  have  grown  out 
of  the  physical  conditions  of  Christianity,  which  are  changing 
and  are  to  change ;  but  their  spiritual  import,  the  relations 
of  the  divine  nature  to  the  human,  the  route  of  the  progress 
and  destiny  of  the  human  race,  the  revelation  of  the  great 
oversphere  of  spirituality,  the  powers  that  have  been  at  work 
in  times  past  and  that  are  at  work  now  to  deliver  men 
from  the  thrall  of  the  flesh — these  things  are  not  waning. 
They  are  augmenting,  and  are  growing  in  the  intelligence 
and  in  the  faith  of  men  from  generation  to  generation. 

The  broad  question  of  resurrection,  which  will  occupy  our 
thought  for  the  residue  of  the  morning,  I  shall  not  discuss  as 
a  matter  of  fact — although  as  a  mere  matter  of  fact  it  is  full 


FORETOKEXS  OF  RESURRECTION.  75 

of  the  profounclest  interest ;  nor  shall  I  discuss  it  as  a  pledge 
of  immortality,  as  the  apostles  did — notably  Paul,  who. in  the 
fifteenth  of  first  Corinthians,  and  in  other  writings  of  his, 
argues  it  against  Grecian  scepticism,  and  makes  it  the  open- 
ing of  the  door  of  hope  to  the  whole  human  race. 

Besides  the  constant  witness  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ 
which  the  apostles  gave  ;  besides  their  continual  appeal  to  it 
as  the  ground  and  reason  of  hope  of  our  own  immortality,  as 
it  were  repeating  continually  the  words  of  the  Master,  "  Be- 
cause I  live  ye  shall  live  also" — he  being  the  first  fruits,  and 
we  the  after  harvest — besides  that,  the  apostles  were  accus- 
tomed to  spiritualize  this  fact,  as  they  were  likewise  accus- 
tomed to  spiritualize  the  divine  nature  of  Christ  and  his 
passion  and  death.  They  looked  upon  them  both  as  historic 
facts ;  they  looked  upon  them  both,  also,  in  their  spiritual 
relations ;  and  the  death  of  Christ  stood  over  against  the 
decay,  the  weakness,  the  want,  the  perpetual  dying,  that  is 
going  on  in  mankind.  The  resurrection  of  Christ  was  spir- 
itualized, also,  by  the  apostles,  and  made  to  stand  over 
against  one  of  those  steps  or  degrees  of  development  by  which 
the  spiritual  element  in  man  gains  ascendancy  over  the  phys- 
ical and  carnal  element. 

Look  at  the  passage  which  I  read  in  your  hearing  : 

"  If  ye  then  be  risen  with  Christ  [the  resurrection  evidently  was 
meant;  but  they  were  not  dead  as  to  the  body;  they  had  never  died  a 
natural  death;  and  if  he  was  speaking  of  the  physical  resurrection 
alone  there  is  no  understanding  the  passage;  but  he  is  spiritualizing 
it,  as  it  comes  out  in  the  sequence]  seek  those  things  which  are  above, 
where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God.  Set  your  affection  on 
things  above,  not  on  things  on  the  earth.  For  ye  are  dead." 

They  were  walking  about,  living  in  their  houses,  breaking 
bread  from  house  to  house,  singing  songs,  saying  prayers,  ex- 
horting each  other,  etc  ;  and  yet,  he  says  to  them,  "  You  are 
dead,"  spiritualizing  death,  or  assuming  that  men  who  are 
yet  encompassed  in  the  flesh  and  under  its  supreme  control 
iimv  be  fitly  called  dead  ;  and  that  every  emission  from,  every 
going  out  of,  that  encompassing  of  the  flesh  about  them,  is 
in  the  nature  of,  or  corresponds  to,  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ.  That  great  personal  uprising  of  Christ  from  the 
dead  stood  not  alone  as  a  fact  in  his  history,  and  not  alone 


76  FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION. 

as  a  disclosure  in  respect  to  immortality  :  it  had  also  con- 
tinuity, and  a  relative  application  to  that  work  which  is  going 
on  in  the  hearts  and  dispositions  of  men  under  the  divine 
influence. 

"  If  ye  then  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those  things  which  are  above, 
where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God.  Set  your  affection  on 
things  above,  not  on  things  on  the  earth.  For  ye  are  dead,  and  your 
life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God." 

Nobody  is  what  he  seems.  The  life  which  is  outside  and 
which  we  see  is  not  the  real  life.  The  real  life,  as  yet,  is 
locked  up — is  hidden.  You  will  not  know  what  it  is  to  be 
until  you  see  it  complete. 

A  person,  going  into  a  jeweler's  shop  to  look  at  a  neck- 
lace, is  shown  one  opal,  and  another  opal,  in  their  separate- 
ness,  a  diamond  here  and  a  diamond  there  ;  but  he  sees  not 
the  whole.  He  sees  not  their  real  proportions,  their  grada- 
tions, their  setting,  every  thing  that  belongs  to  them ;  and 
yet,  he  has  some  conception  of  how  exceedingly  rich  the 
necklace  will  be  from  seeing  the  individual  parts  of  it,  al- 
though he  knows  nothing  of  the  particulars  as  to  how  these 
t>arts  will  be  put  together. 

So  we,  in  this  life,  see  manly  strength,  and  courage,  and 
pi  ity,  and  truth,  and  patience,  and  love,  and  the  other 
higner  elements  of  the  soul  ;  these  are  scattered  parts  of 
our  future  life  ;  but  what  we  are  to  be  we  do  not  know.  We 
are  entombed,  as  it  were  ;  we  are  undisclosed  ;  we  are,  using 
Christ  Jesus  as  a  figure,  buried  in  him,  as  he  was  buried  in 
the  sepulcher ;  and  as  he  waited  to  come  forth,  so  we  arc 
waiting  to  come  forth,  and  to  be  as  he  was  in  power,  in 
beauty,  in  harmony,  and  in  joyfulness.  We  are  to  be  that 
compared  with  which  all  this  mortal  state  is  as  the  blackness 
of  death. 

Spiritualizing  both  ways,  on  the  question  of  death  and 
of  the  resurrection,  it  is  perfectly  fair,  then,  to  say  that 
the  resurrection  may  be  employed  in  the  way  of  practical 
application,  and  in  the  way  of  comfort  and  of  cheer,  after 
the  manner  of  the  apostles.  It  is  fair  to  say  of  it,  if  we 
spiritualize  it,  and  apply  it  to  all  the  separate  elements  of 
our  life  from  day  to  day,  and  derive  comfort  and  consolation 


FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION.  77 

from  it,  taking  it,  as  it  were,  in  particles,  in  broken  parts, 
that  it  is  like  the  separate  elements  of  a  beautiful  coronet. 
We  are  not  doing  violence  to  the  spirit  of  Scripture,  nor  sub- 
stituting our  own  ingenuity  for  the  divine  teaching,  but  are 
following  the  apostles'  example,  in  spiritualizing  it. 

I  remark,  then,  that  every  man  is  born  buried  in  the 
flesh,  imprisoned  in  matter,  sensible  to  decay  and  death,  and 
that  all  the  steps  by  which  he  rises  from  his  burial  in  the 
flesh  are  a  participation,  and  are  in  some  sense  an  intimation 
and  prefiguring,  of  the  great  and  complete  resurrection.  In 
other  words,  that  change  which  takes  place  at  death  and 
after  death  in  its  entirety  is  also  taking  place  little  by  little 
as  we  go  on  in  this  world.  The  full  disclosure  of  resurrec- 
tion— that  is  to  say,  the  rising  of  the  spirit,  in  all  its  ampli- 
tude and  power,  after  the  body  is  dropped — is  the  grand  cli- 
macteric fact ;  but  the  preparation  for  it,  which  is  a  part  of 
it,  and  which  leads  to  if,  is  going  on  in  all  this  mortal 
struggle. 

In  a  few  days  now,  when  the  hyacinth  shoots  its  bold  stalk 
of  flowers  into  the  air,  and  when  the  tulip,  hardly  waiting  for 
the  fro.-jt  to  let  go,  begins1  to  expand  its  brilliant  bud,  do  you 
suppose  they  will  have  organized  all  their  work  since  the 
north  wind  forgot  to  blow  ?  Do  you  suppose  that  these  early 
blooming  bulbs  first  think  of  that  which  they  develop,  the 
moment  their  inflorescence  comes  out?  Do  you  suppose  that 
inflorescence  is  the  result  of  immediate  action  or  cause  ? 

Last  August  and  September  my  hyacinths  were  beginning 
to  develop  the  flowers  which  are  about  to  show  themselves. 
They  were  at  work  preparing  for  them  then.  All  through 
tho.se  months  there  was  being  stored  in  the  little  invisible 
cells  of  the  cormus,  or  bulb,  that  which  was  to  support  and 
take  care  of  it  during  the  cold  season  ;  and  it  lay  through  the 
dead  winter  waiting  for  liberty  to  come  forth.  And  now,  in 
the  milder  nights  and  warmer  days  of  spring  it  is  blossoming 
and  bringing  out  that  which  has  been  getting  ready  to  come 
out  since  last  mid-summer. 

Do  you  suppose  that  when,  by-and-by,  the  crowned  spirit 
spreads  its  wings  and  begins  its  wonderful  flight  from  earth 
to  heaven,  from  light  to  greater  light,  that  flight  will  LJ  a 


78  FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION. 

miraculous,  instantaneous  creation  ?  All  the  victories  of  that 
spirit  will  run  back  through  its  earthly  years.  All  its  attain- 
ments will  have  been  gathering  through  its  whole  life.  All 
the  efforts  by  which  the  body  has  been  kept  under,  so  that 
the  mind,  inspired  of  God,  might  go  forth  and  take  hold 
upon  resurrection  and  upon  immortality — these  have  wrought 
out  their  fruits  in  the  time  that  is  past,  and  the  great  change 
discloses  what  has  been  effected.  Every  true  man  ;  every  man 
who  is  unwilling  to  live  as  he  is  living  ;  every  man  who  is 
seeking  to  be  better,  to  purify  his  soul,  to  exalt  and  ennoble 
himself — every  such  man,  in  everything  that  he  is  gaining  of 
education,  and  of  victory  over  that  which  is  low,  is  preparing 
the  elements  of  resurrection,  and  is  beginning,  as  it  were,  to 
have  a  foretaste  of  it  in  himself. 

Hence,  every  clear  ascendancy  of  our  nobler  nature  over 
the  body  brings  us  within  the  charmed  circle  of  resurrection. 
Every  man  who  finds  himself  unhappily  situated  ;  every  man 
who  is  set  afloat  on  the  sea  of  life  ill-equipped,  with  a  thou- 
sand influences  throbbing  in  him,  and  driving  him  on  with 
basilar  forces — every  such  man  who,  by  the  inspiration  of  the 
truth,  and  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  his  soul,  makes 
fit  resistance  to  whatever  is  evil  in  him — every  such  man,  at 
every  single  step,  in  which  he  puts  the  yoke  on  the  beastly 
neck,  and  bows  down  his  passions  into  a  proper  servitude, 
and  gives  ascendancy  in  himself  to  that  which  is  right  and 
good  and  true  and  just — every  such  man  is,  by  each  victory 
which  he  gains,  reaching  forward  toward  the  sphere  of  spir- 
itual resurrection. 

Now,  I  would  not  lower  the  standard  of  rectitude  one 
whit ;  but  I  say  that  when  God  shall  show  us  the  truth 
balanced  and  proportioned,  there  will  be  a  great  many  men 
that  are  hardly  considered  more  than  respectable  here  of 
whom  he  will  say  that  they  have  done  more,  and  fought  a 
braver  battle,  than  those  who  have  gone  out  of  life  with  all 
eyes  streaming,  and  everybody  looking  up  to  them,  as  the 
servants  of  the  prophet  looked  up  to  him  when  he  went  up 
in  his  chariot  of  fire. 

There  are  men  low  down  in  the  scale  of  spirituality  and 
morality,  who,  if  you  weigh  the  power  which  is  required  to 


FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION.  7$ 

enable  them  to  resist  their  organization,  and  the  circum- 
stances in  which  those  organizations  are  placed  in  this  life — 
there  are  men  who,  if  you  consider  how  much  patience  thej 
exercise,  how  much  suffering  they  endure,  how  much  per- 
sistent endeavor  is  necessary  to  keep  them  above  absolute 
wickedness,  and  to  develop  in  them  even  a  little  of  the  spir- 
ituality of  Christ — there  are  men  who,  under  such  circum- 
stances, you  would  say  deserve  more,  a  thousand  fold  (if  you 
put  it  on  the  ground  of  deserving),  than  those  who  are 
organized  more  fortunately,  and  therefore  have  not  the  great 
battle  of  life  to  fight. 

Now,  I  see  men  snubbed  and  put  down  because,  being 
filled  with  brute  forces  and  instincts,  they  do  not  reach  a 
higher  experience  of  the  spiritual  nature  ;  I  see  men  who  are 
perpetually  condemned  for  not  having  made  greater  moral 
progress  ;  whereas,  they  may  have  made  attainments  which 
not  one  man  in  a  thousand  has  reached  who  was  more  for- 
tunately organized  than  they. 

It  is  not  to  bring  down  the  standard  of  human  life,  but  to 
encourage  men  who  are  far  down,  that  I  speak  thus.  I  say 
these  things  to  them  that,  at  every  step  which  they  take  to- 
ward the  spiritual  life,  in  the  direction  of  that  which  is  higher 
and  better,  they  may  feel  that  it  is  a  step  which  God  observes  ; 
that  he  helps  them  in,  and  will  reward  them  for,  their  work  ; 
and  that  though  it  may  be  far  away  from  the  light  and  glory 
of  the  resurrection,  it  is  a  foretoken  thereof. 

There  are  great,  huge,  rude  men,  representing  the  coarser 
physical  elements  of  life  ;  and  yet,  in  them  are  the  seeds  of 
i H mortality,  growing  in  the  midst  of  thorns  ;  and  the  thorns 
have  been  rent  away;  and  the  hands  have  been  torn  in  the 
process.  Those  seeds  are  growing  amidst  poisonous  weeds ; 
and  the  weeds  have  been  torn  up  by  main  strength  ;  and  the 
hands  are  poisoned  and  swollen.  We  witness  it ;  and  these 
plants  of  righteousness  may  seem  to  have  but  little  growth. 

Ah !  bring  a  plant  out  from  your  green-house,  where 
wealth  has  been  able  to  buy  skill,  where  it  has  blossomed  un- 
chilled  by  the  winter  in  an  artificial  climate,  where  every  in- 
sect has  been  kept  off  from  it,  and  where  all  that  was  most 
favorable  to  the  conditions  of  vegetable  life  has  been  secured 


80  FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION. 

to  it.  It  is  most  seemly  in  its  bud,  and  most  exquisite  in  its 
blossom.  Now,  go  and  set  it  down  by  the  side  of  a  starveling, 
in  the  wilderness  ;  and  I  say  that  that  poor  plant,  striving  to 
blossom  there,  is  more  beautiful  in  the  sight  of  God  than 
this  great  and  comely  one.  It  has  had  no  such  nourishment 
and  no  such  soil  as  the  green-house  plant  has ;  it  has  had 
every  enemy  to  contend  against;  and  yet,  in  spite  of  these  cir- 
cumstances, it  has  come  to  itself  in  some  slight  degree. 

Men  who,  in  adverse  circumstances,  through  moral  resist- 
ance, and  through  aspiration,  attain  inferior  results  in  the  right 
direction  are  worthy  of  more  praise  than  men  who,  in  favoring 
circumstances,  attain  superior  results  in  the  same  direction. 

How  easy  is  it  for  a  general  with  ten  thousand  old  veter- 
ans to  subdue  a  mob  of  disorderly  citizens  !  but  does  he  ever 
mention  a  victory  over  such  a  mob  in  the  annals  of  his  mil- 
itary career  ?  No.  His  victorious  battle  in  the  wilderness, 
where  his  means  of  transportation  were  cut  off,  where  he  was 
hedged  in  by  a  superior  force,  and  where  by  dexterity,  in- 
domitable courage,  suffering  and  death,  he  hewed  his  way 
out — that  is  the  battle  which  he  records,  and  which  he  loves 
to  have  praised. 

It  is  what  men  do  against  adversity  and  up  steep  places  ; 
it  is  what  men  do  against  the  lower  nature  under  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  higher  nature — it  is  this  that  will  be  recorded  in 
the  other  life.  And  if  there  be  in  my  hearing  to-day  men 
who  have  an  impulse  all  the  time  to  live  better  lives,  but  who 
feel  an  influence  drawing  them  down,  who  are  conscious  that 
the  force  of  their  organization  is  pulling  them  back,  and  who 
are  in  a  sort  of  discouragement,  because  they  think  there  is 
no  use  in  trying,  since  they  never  can  be  such  saints  as  some 
men  whom  they  see  around  them — if  there  be  such  men  in 
my  hearing,  I  would  preach  the  resurrection  to  them,  and 
would  say  to  them,  Whosoever  emerges  in  any  part  of  his  na- 
ture from  animal  conditions,  and  gains  victories  in  the  direc- 
tion of  moral  superiority,  has  in  those  victories  foretokens 
sent  to  him  as  prophets,  saying  "There  waits  for  you  a  more 
glorious  morning."  Every  step  of  emancipation  from  that 
which  is  base  toward  that  which  is  noble  is  a  forerunner 
which  points  to  a  yefc  more  sublime  emergence. 


FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION.  gl 

If  you  cannot  be  as  good  as  you  would  be,  fight  for  what 
you  can  reach,  and  never  give  over  the  battle,  nor  herd  your- 
self with  that  which  is  animal,  for  the  sake  of  living  in 
worldly  conditions  of  peace  and  prosperity.  Believe  that 
there  is  resurrection  for  you,  and  begin  it  here. 

Every  time  men  rise,  not  above  single  faults  and  faculties, 
but  to  a  better  plane  of  life,  they  do  that  which  foretokens 
resurrection. 

This  foretokening  of  resurrection  is  the  mission  of  trouble. 
If  the  sky  be  fair,  and  the  air  be  dry,  men  sleep  out  of  doors 
in  California ;  and  heaps  of  grain  stand  through  the  long 
months  uncovered,  and  barns  are  never  built,  because  there 
is  no  danger  of  the  falling  of  moisture ;  but  if  the  climate 
were  to  change,  and  there  were  to  be  rains  through  the  sum- 
mer, the  inconvenience  and  damage  occasioned  thereby  would 
modify  men's  arrangements,  and  they  would  no  longer  sleep 
out  of  doors,  and  barns  would  be  built.  In  other  words, 
they  would  begin  to  have  foresight.  That  is,  they  would 
lengthen  out  their  life  by  looking  forward  and  organizing 
better  conditions  of  husbandry. 

Trouble  is  architectural.  Thousands  of  men  but  for 
trouble  would  not  have  been  half  the  men  they  are  now. 
The  things  which  make  men  cry  when  they  are  young  make 
them  laugh  when  they  are  old,  if  they  only  knew  it. 

It  is  not  the  men  that  get  along  the  easiest  that  are  the 
best  off.  Some  men  think  that  the  consummation  of  a  pros- 
perous life  would  be  to  be  on  a  golden  canal  boat,  and  go 
smoothly,  without  bumping,  along  the  old  dull  canal,  and 
never  have  to  wake  up,  or  do  anything ;  with  no  oar,  no 
steam,  no  noise,  nothing  to  disturb  them ;  only  having  to  eat, 
and  drink,  and  sleep,  and  be  happy,  all  the  day  long.  I 
would  as  lief  be  the  boat  as  the  man  under  such  circumstances. 
That  is  not  the  way  by  which  men  emerge  from  lower  condi- 
tions into  higuer  ones. 

You  are  all  dead  to  begin  with.  You  are  all  entombed  in 
the  body.  You  are  all,  more  or  less,  in  every  faculty  shut 
up ;  and  every  man  is  to  be  got  out  in  one  way  or  another ; 
and  the  blows  which  disturb  you  are  the  blows  which,  on  the 
rocks,  are  letting  loose  the  crystals.  The  blows  that  disturb 


82  FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION. 

you  are  the  blows  of  the  Deliverer  on  thj  lock  or  hinge,  that 
are  to  set  you  free.  If  men  knew  what  God's  blows  meant, 
they  would  say,  "Lord,  thou  art  knocking;  thy  knocks  are 
hard ;  but  I  will  open  unto  thee."  Accept  trouble  when  it 
comes,  for  with  it  comes  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

I  go  and  sow  my  seed  on  the  unprepared  ground,  and  tho 
birds  pick  it  up ;  but  let  me  rip  up  the  ground,  ploughing 
deep,  so  that  the  soil  lies  mellow ;  and  then  when  I  sow  my 
seed  the  birds  cannot  eat  it  before  the  ground  shall  sprout  it. 

Sorrows  and  troubles  prepare  the  way  for  the  sowing  of 
seeds  from  which  come  plants  and  flowers.  God  is  serious. 
He  has  business.  You  are  his  children,  and  he  loves  you 
better  than  you  love  yourselves ;  and  ho  is  thinking  unfor- 
gettingly  of  emancipating  you  from  lower  conditions,  and 
bringing  you  up  step  by  step  to  where  you  shall  get  a  larger 
view  of  life.  Every  time  a  man  has  trouble  which  leads  him 
to  take  new  observations,  and  steer  a  better  voyage ;  every 
time  a  man  has  an  experience  which  makes  him  dissatisfied 
with  the  poor  conditions  of  this  life,  and  makes  him  long  fcr 
the  life  to  come ;  every  time  a  man  is  conacious  that  lie  has 
been  lifted  up  by  an  invisible  force  to  a  higher  level  cf  life, 
so  that  he  discerns  something  more  in  himself  than  a  creature 
of  this  world,  and  begins  to  feel  that  he  is  an  heir  to  the 
divine  and  spiritual  realm,  then  he  realizes  in  part  his  resur- 
rection. He  has  a  fore-token  of  it.  It  shines  on  him. 
Therefore  do  not  wait  till  the  time  that  follows  the  great  life 
— I  was  going  to  say  death. 

I  can  imagine  how  seeds  feel  in  autumn.  I  can  im- 
agine how  an  acorn  feels.  I  can  imagine  how  it  shivers 
through  December,  saying  to  the  tree,  "Have  you  measured 
me  for  my  clothes  ?  Do  you  know  what  a  winter  I  have  got 
to  go  through  ?  I  shall  need  to  be  thickly  clad.  Weave  my 
fibers  tighter  and  snugger.  Oil  me,  so  that  the  rain  will  not 
penetrate  my  coating.  Make  me  so  that  I  shall  get  through 
the  cold  season."  The  old  oak  sings  and  sighs,  and  says  to 
the  acorn,  "I  will  do  better  for  you  than  you  think."  So  the 
acorn  is  thoroughly  protected  for  the  winter.  And  now  it 
says,  "I  am  perfect.  This  is  what  I  was  made  for."  But 
when  the  Spring  comes  a  squirrel  takes  it  and  drops  it  in  a 


FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION.  83 

leafy  covert,  and  cannot  find  it ;  or,  the  seed-planter  takes 
it  and  puts  it  in  the  soil.  Soon  it  begins  to  find  its  fibrous 
cover  relaxing  ;  and  the  acorn  says,  "I  am  losing  my  clothes  : 
I  am  being  ruined ;  I  feel  that  I  am  sinking  into  the 
ground."  And  as  the  root  runs  down,  it  cries,  "Ah,  I  do 
not  know  where  I  am  going."  But,  as  the  plumule  shoots 
up,  by  and  by,  and  opens  its  leaves,  and  looks  out,  it  says, 
••  Where  am  I  ?  What  am  I  ?  Why,  where  is  my  acorn  ?" 
Eh  !  it  is  dead  ;  and  what  have  you  in  the  place  of  it  ? 
Root  below — branches  above — the  sunlight — and  the  whole 
horizon.  Which  is  better  ? 

Men  are  buried  in  the  various  elements  of  physical  life  ; 
and  when  here  and  there  come  troubles  and  trials  and  influ- 
ences which  begin  to  crack  them  open,  and  they  go  through 
the  labor-throes  of  a  new  life,  and  their  roots  reach  down  and 
develop  themselves  in  the  soil,  and  their  germs,  heeding  the 
call  of  light  and  air  above,  rise  higher  rnd  higher,  how  they 
mourn  !  How  distressed  they  are  !  They  are  being  taken  out 
of  seed-forms,  and  are  coming  into  plant-forms,  and  they  do 
not  know  that  they  are  coming  to  resurrection. 

Every  victory  in  your  personal  experience,  however  hum- 
ble, is  a  part  of  that  spiritual  resurrection  from  the  dead 
which  is  going  on  all  over  the  world  among  God's  people.  I 
mean  by  this,  that  every  time  you  distinctly  make  some  moral 
element  more  bright,  more  beautiful,  and  more  constant  in 
you  than  it  was  before,  whether  it  be  with  or  without  con- 
sciousness, you  are  making  some  advance  toward  that  resur- 
rection. 

Men's  experiences  are  too  often  like  illuminated  houses 
when  a  great  victory  or  a  great  peace  is  celebrated.  On  such 
occasions  men  buy  candles  two  or  three  inches  long,  and  put 
them  in  little  bits  of  tin  sockets,  and  stick  them  up  at  every 
pane  of  glass,  and  light  them,  so  that  they  may  be  seen  by 
everybody  that  goes  past  in  the  street.  And  was  ther^evcr 
anything  more  beautiful !  That  is  just  like  folks  under 
preaching  and  often  in  revivals  of  religion.  They  have  little 
bits  of  enthusiasm,  little  bits  of  candles,  that  will  not  burn 
an  hour.  And  after  they  have  gone  out  how  much  tallow 
there  is  on  the  window,  and  on  the  carpet,  and  all  about ! 


84  FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION. 

Now,  if  men,  instead  of  having  these  petty  illuminations, 
would  establish  in  themselves  a  fountain  of  light,  how  much 
better  it  would  be  !  I  have  candles  that  will  burn  all  day, 
and  all  night,  and  never  go  out.  There  is  a  reservoir  which 
supplies  them ;  and  the  light  that  come  from  it — oh,  how 
brilliant  it  is  !  The  watcher  blesses  God  for  it.  The  mother, 
rising  to  look  after  her  sick  children,  blesses  God  for  it.  It 
is  a  light  that  does  not  go  out,  and  that  needs  no  trimming 
and  no  replenishing.  It  stands  in  the  house,  and  is  always 
ready  for  use. 

What  men  want  is  not  virtues  that  shall  rise  and  shine  for 
a  little  while  and  then  go  out  again,  but  virtues  that  shall 
remain  ;  and  every  time  you  establish  an  element  of  truth  in 
yourself ;  every  time  you  give  permanence  to  a  principle  of 
honor  ;  every  time  you  take  the  old  thorn-bearing  branch, 
and  cut  it  off,  and  graft  upon  it  a  fruitful  branch,  and  see 
that  it  "takes,"  that  it  is  not  "blown  out,"  and  that  it  be- 
comes fruitful ;  every  time  you  gain  any  element  of  truth,  or 
faith,  or  meekness,  or  gentleness,  or  love,  or  patience  ;  every 
time  you  give  stability  to  anything  good,  in  any  direction,  no 
matter  if  it  be  feeble,  you  have  emerged ;  you  have  gone  up  ; 
you  are  going  out  of  the  body,  out  of  the  flesh,  out  of  burial, 
out  of  death  ;  you  are  going  toward  life  ;  and  so  you  are  hav- 
ing resurrection  in  dividend. 

Every  time  men  not  only  deliver  themselves,  but  are 
made  the  instruments  of  God  in  delivering  others,  they  have 
a  participation  in  resurrection,  and  they  also  become  a  power 
of  God,  and  ministering  angels  of  resurrection. 

The  choir  in  this  world  which  God  listens  to  is  not  the 
great  choir  in  the  cathedral ;  it  is  not  the  exquisitely  trained 
choir  of  the  Sistine  chapel  ;  it  is  not  the  thundering  choirs 
at  the  anniversaries  of  Meyerbeer,  of  Beethoven,  of  Handel, 
of  Haydn,  or  any  of  those  great  musicians  :  the  choirs  which 
God  listens  to  are  mothers  singing  to  their  little  children, 
and  little  children  singing  back  to  their  mothers. 

On  this  side  of  the  gate  of  Heaven  there  is  no  place  so 
near  to  heaven,  or  go  much  like  heaven,  as  the  household, 
if  it  be  held  under  the  power  and  dominion  of  wisdom  and 
love.  Mothers  opening  to  their  children  the  spiritual  realm  ; 


FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION.  85 

mothers  teaching  their  children  to  fly  and  to  sing  bird-like  ; 
mothers  scattered  up  and  down  through  villages  and  towns, 
in  the  wilderness  and  in  far  off  places,  instructing  their 
children  in  things  divine — these  are  the  choirs  from  which 
rise  the  sweetest  notes  that  ever  survive  the  influence  of  this 
world  and  the  disturbances  of  time,  and  mount  up  through 
storm  and  fire,  and  are  wafted  to  the  heavenly  laud,  where 
they  mingle  themselves  with  the  voices  of  the  redeemed  in 
glory. 

Do  you  feel  that  you  are  living  lonely  ?  Do  you  feel  that 
you  are  unrecompensed  in  this  life  ?  Do  you  feel  that  no- 
body knows  you  or  cares  about  you  ?  0  thou  that  from 
morning  to  night  art  full  of  weariness,  full  of  aching,  full  of 
watching,  and  full  of  anxiety ;  0  thou  that  sayest  in  the 
morning,  "  Would  God  it  were  evening,"  and  at  evening, 
"  Would  God  it  were  morning,"  be  not  desolate  nor  cast 
down.  Prisoner  of  hope,  look  up  ;  for  thou  art  giving  birth 
again  to  that  to  which  thou  didst  first  give  life,  in  that  thou 
art  opening  the  child's  soul  to  immortal  blessedness.  Thou 
art  an  angel  of  God  ministering  resurrection  to  that  soul. 
And  there  is  joy  waiting  for  thee.  And  here  is  where  that 
great  word  shall  be  fulfilled,  "  The  last  shall  be  first  and  the 
first  last." 

Kings  shall  come  and  cast  their  crowns  before  God  and 
rejoice,  if  they  have  been  governors  in  righteousness ;  and 
generals  and  great  men  of  the  earth  shall  come  to  bring  their 
honor  and  glory  into  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  and  when  all  that 
were  great  and  all  that  were  strong  have  made  their  con- 
tributions, the  Judge  shall  say,  "  Make  way,  and  let  my 
chiefest  ones  approach.  And  then  shall  come  the  poor  who 
have  divided  their  poverty  that  those  who  were  poorer  might 
live.  Then  shall  come  the  weak  who  took  upon  themselves 
mighty  burdens,  that  those  who  were  weaker  should  have  a 
chance  of  life  and  hope.  Then  shall  come  the  joyous  who 
laid  aside  their  brightness  that  they  might  make  happy  those 
who  were  joyless.  Then  shall  come  the  obscure  and  the  un- 
known who  have  suffered  for  others,  and  by  their  sufferings 
have  given  birth  to  the  souls  of  men.  Then  shall  come  many 
a  poor  village  schoolmistress,  pale  and  tremulous,  who  labored 


86  FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION. 

hard  and  faithfully  and  long  for  penurious  wages,  and  at  last, 
with  broken  health,  went  home  to  die.  Then  shall  come 
many  a  poor  man  who  had  no  patrimony,  nor  patron,  nor 
wealth,  nor  place,  but  who  did  not,  by  reason  of  that  which 
he  lacked,  hold  himself  aloof  from  the  world,  but  strove  to 
rescue  his  fellow-men.  And  these  benefactors  shall  stand 
high  in  glory.  There  are  many  poor  slaves  who  shall  out- 
strip the  magistrates  who  remanded  them  to  bondage  again. 
There  are  many  who  toil  in  the  lowest  places  of  earth,  and 
who  are  unheard  of  and  outcast,  whom  God  and  heaven  are 
waiting  for. 

To  all  who  are  discouraged  in  their  family  life  ;  to  all  who 
are  disheartened  in  their  mission  labors  ;  to  all  who  are  work- 
ing in  darkness,  and  with  a  poor  prospect  of  success  ;  to  all 
who  are  engaged  in  their  pastorates  far  away,  without  honor  or 
remuneration  or  earthly  comfort — 0  that  to  them  might  be 
brought  the  sense  of  God's  coming  glory  ! 

For  all  those  who  are  patiently  and  lovingly  ministering 
the  truth  of  the  resurrection  to  such  as  are  around  about 
them  ;  for  all  those  by  whom  souls  are  being  delivered  from 
bondage ;  for  all  those  who  are  developing  the  higher  and 
nobler  traits  of  spiritual  life,  and  are  casting  death  little  by 
little  under  their  feet — for  all  such  God  waits ;  and  the  crowns 
are  shining,  the  palms  are  waving,  and  the  songs  are  written 
and  ready  to  burst  forth,  which  shall  greet  them  in  the  other 
life.  And  many  and  many  who  died  alone,  the  next  minute 
after  the  last  throb  of  life  on  earth,  shall  find  themselves  in 
the  midst  of  innumerable  saints  in  heaven.  Here  pauper, 
and  there  prince  ;  here  joyless,  and  there  joyful ;  here  dying, 
and  there  life  forever  and  forever  in  the  presence  of  Him 
who  shall  say,  amidst  wreathed  smiles  divine,  "Because 
I  live,  ye  shall  live  also." 

Work  for  yourselves,  and  work  for  others.  Let  your  res- 
urrection not  be  waited  for.  Take  the  earnest  of  it  and  the 
foretaste  of  it,  that  by  and  by  the  full  blessedness  of  it  may 
be  yours. 


FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION.  87 


PEAYEK  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

WE  draw  near  to  thee,  our  heavenly  Father,  as  they  who  watch  in 
the  iiight  draw  near  to  the  morning;  for  though  they  cannot  reach 
the  Source  of  light,  though  they  know  not  what  it  is  that  brings  forth 
the  morning,  they  behold  its  brightness,  they  see  how  all  things  shine 
and  rejoice  in  the  light  thereof,  and  they  set  their  faces  toward  that 
light,  to  be  themselves  bathed  with  it,  though  they  may  not  know  its 
cause.  How  shall  we  ever  make  ourselves  joyful  if  we  wait  until  we 
understand  thee?  We  set  our  faces  toward  the  thought  of  divine 
love  iu  infinite  power,  working  out  wisdom,  and  truth,  and  purity, 
and  nobility.  Thou  sittest  in  the  seat  of  everlasting  power— for  good- 
ness is  everlastingly  powerful ;  and  over  all  chaotic?  things,  over  all 
tumults,  over  all  conflicts  and  oppositions,  goodness  shall  yet  prevail, 
and  the  kingdom  of  God  shall  be  a  kingdom  of  joy  and  singing.  The 
whole  universe  shall  resound  without  sadness  or  sorrow  to  the  praise 
of  God,  and  with  the  gladness  of  infinite  hearts  made  worthy  to  be 
the  children  of  God. 

To  this  consummation  our  thoughts  go  forward.  Though  we  are 
living  far  apart,  in  one  chamber  of  thy  universe,  doing  work  the 
ends  and  issues  of  which  we  do  not  understand,  we  desire  to  be 
patient,  believing  that  the  great  Husbandman  knows  that  which  we 
do  not,  and  that  thou  art  seeing  throughout  the  growths  of  time, 
throughout  all  the  prolongation  of  the  seasons,  as  One  who  dwells  in 
the  whole  universe ;  and  thou  art  rejoicing  and  dost  rejoice  from  day 
to  day.  For,  though  to  those  who  are  in  the  valley  the  storm  shuts 
out  the  sky,  yet  those  who  are  upon  the  mountain  behold  the  sun 
above  them,  and  in  the  light  thereof  see  what  is  taking  place  in  the 
valleys  below  on  either  side  of  them.  And  so  thou,  sitting  upon  the 
circle  of  the  earth,  dost  see  how  men  are  beset  with  sorrows  and 
troubles;  and  yet  thou  dost  know  that  thy  work  is  going  on.  Thou 
dost  know  that  amidst  infinite  confusion  there  still  runs  the  clear 
line  of  God's  purpose.  It  is  the  divine  tendency  that  every  soul  shall 
grow  brighter  and  brighter;  and  the  river  of  life  is  flowing  stronger 
and  deeper  unto  the  end. 

We  rejoice,  O  God,  that  we  may  rise  into  the  faith  of  that,  and  so 
into  the  faith  of  time,  and  into  some  comfort  and  courage  of  our 
own  selves,  that  we  may  join  those  who  seek  purity,  and  elevation, 
nnd  spirituality,  and  that  we  may  have  that  confidence  which  out- 
runs the  senses,  and  takes  hold  of  the  great  invisible  treasury  of 
truths. 

We  pray  that  we  may  be  lifted  up  on  thia  day  of  rejoicing  all  the 
world  around.  We  pray  that  we  may  be  joined  in  the  universal 
acclaim  and  gladness,  and  that  we  may  bring  our  hearts  and  praises 
to  Him  who  hath  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light 

O  Lord  Jesus !  thou  art  on  this  bide  our  brother,  and  on  that  side 
our  God.  Thou  art  to  us  the  interpretation  of  that  which  we  cannot 
find  out  by  reasoning  or  research.  Thou  dost  bring  down  to  us  such 
a  sense  of  what  is  going  on  in  the  spirit-life,  that  through  that  we 
have  approach  unto  God;  and  by  thee  we  are  able  to  stand  before 
him.  We  rejoice  in  the  tenderness,  in  the  personal  sympathy,  and  in 


gg  FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION. 

the  love  which  couples  thee  with  ourselves.  We  rejoice  that  it  is  a 
love  which  springs  not  from  our  excelencies  but  from  thy  compas- 
sion. Thou  seest  our  toil,  thou  seest  with  what  labor-throes  we  are 
being  born  ;  thou  seest  how  we  are  straitened  on  every  side,  and  are 
as  children  who  have  not  cast  off  their  childhood,  and  cannot  cast  it 
off,  struggling  for  growth  and  for  strength  in  growing;  and  thou  hast 
been  as  a  merciful  high-priest  touched  with  our  infirmities,  and 
tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin,  that  thou  might- 
est  be  our  Deliverer;  and  when  we  are  naked  and  open  unto  thee 
with  whom  we  have  to  do,  thou  criest  still;  "Come  boldly  unto  the 
throne  of  grace,"  that  we  may  obtain  mercy,  and  find  grace  to  help 
us  in  time  of  need. 

We  ask,  O  Lord  Jesus!  for  the  mercy  of  God,  not  as  they  who  are 
without  it,  but  as  they  who  recognize  the  supply,  and  still  desire  its 
continuance.  We  pray  for  the  strength  which  we  need  day  by  day; 
for  the  renewal  of  hope  in  its  very  foundation ;  for  patience;  for  en- 
tire submission  to  the  divine  will. 

Grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  we  may  never  give  over  our  faith  in  a 
God  over-ruling  all  things  for  good,  in  mercy  toward  us  in  propor- 
tion to  our  need.  We  pray  that  this  day  we  may  draw  near  to  thee 
with  thanksgiving  and  rejoicing,  and  with  renewed  hopefulness,  and 
that  this  may  be  a  day  full  of  divine  blessings  to  every  waiting  soul. 

Wilt  thou  especially  draw  near  to  every  one  that  hath  come  hither 
seeking,  in  the  sanctuary  of  God,  strength  and  light  that  shall  help 
him  in  his  struggle  of  life.  Draw  near  to  every  one  according  to  his 
need.  As  thou  didst  address  thyself  on  earth  to  all  according  to  their 
several  necessities,  so  again,  and  evermore,  bring  thyself  to  us  as  we 
need  thee — to  the  poor  in  their  poverty;  to  those  who  are  feeble  in 
weakness;  to  those  who  are  disappointed  and  cast  down,  in  their 
desolateness ;  to  all  who  are  uncertain,  in  their  want  of  confirmation, 
in  their  perplexity,  and  in  their  over-turnings  from  day  to  day;  to 
all  that  are  suffering  by  reason  of  their  faults  and  by  reason  of  the 
faults  of  others  round  about  them  ;  to  all  whose  hearts  are  sore  with 
blighted  affections;  to  all  who  are  afflicted  with  bitter  bereavements; 
to  all  from  whom  thou  hast  taken  the  light  and  the  staff  of  strength ; 
to  all  who  remember  the  sorrows  of  days  gone  by. 

Grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  all  may  be  able,  this  morning,  to  bear 
witness,  that  thon  hast  been  present  to  them,  and  that  thou  hast  given 
the  strength  and  li^ht  of  consolation  to  every  one  in  due  season. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  that  all  who  have  come  up  hither  this 
morning,  to  bring  their  joy  and  their  hope  and  their  courage  and  their 
prospects  of  life  before  thee  for  thy  blessing,  may  be  able  to  offer 
themselves,  in  their  gladness,  to  God,  as  an  acceptable  offering,  may 
they  never  forget  thanksgiving  in  the  midst  of  sorrow.  May  they 
rather  remember  how  much  more  reason  there  is  for  thankseiving 
than  for  bitterness. 

Grant  that  every  day  we  may  bring  to  thee,  not  our  unceasing 
complaint,  not  our  daily  mourning:  may  we  be  the  children  of  light, 
and  bring  something  of  love,  and  something  of  gladness,  and  some- 
thing of  courage,  and  something  of  aspiration,  and  something  of  hope, 
that  we  may  please  thee. 

Grant  that  our  faces  may  reflect  thine,  and  be  full  of  brightness. 


FORETOKENS   OF  RE*ri!l!i:<  T/O.V.  89 

Change  even  our  night  to  day,  or  send  stars  to  minister  therein.  We 
pray  that  thy  blessing  may  fill  us  all  with  a  sense  of  our  own  bless- 
ings, and  with  a  sense  of  that  better  life  and  that  better  land  which 
lie  just  beyond  this  world. 

We  pray,  O  God,  that  thou  wilt  grant  thy  blessing  to-day  upon  all 
that  gather  together  in  the  great  congregations  of  these  contiguous 
cities.  May  all  who  preach  be  able  to  do  it  with  simplicity,  with  an 
inward  understanding  of  thy  truth,  out  of  hearts  that  have  been 
melted  by  that  truth,  and  with  power  sent  down  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
from  on  high.  And  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  more  and  more  that 
the  truth  may  be  efficacious  in  turning  men  from  darkness  to  light, 
and  from  sin  to  holiness. 

We  pray  that  thy  blessing  may  rest  upon  all  those  who  devise 
morality;  upon  all  those  who  work  for  the  purification  of  morals; 
upon  all  those  who  seek  to  build  up  our  times  in  justice,  and  temper- 
ance, and  fidelity,  and  honesty. 

Wilt  thou  bless  this  whole  land  ?  Remember  the  President  of  these 
United  States,  and  all  those  who  are  joined  with  him  in  authority; 
and  grant  that  thy  blessing  evermore  may  guide  them  into  the  things 
which  shall  be  for  the  stability  of  our  times,  and  for  the  welfare  of 
this  great  people.  Bless  the  Congress  assembled,  and  all  the  legisla- 
tures of  our  several  States,  and  the  courts,  and  their  officers,  and  all 
the  citizens  of  this  great  land.  May  the  poor  and  the  needy  be  min- 
istered unto.  May  the  ignorant  have  light  and  knowledge  brought 
unto  them.  May  those  who  are  drawn  away  from  thee  by  prosperity 
be  brought  again  to  their  Lord  and  their  God.  Spare  this  great 
people.  Save  them  from  judgments  vindicating  thy  justice.  Grant 
that  they  may  walk  in  the  ways  of  truth  and  righteousness  into  fidel- 
ity, and  that  they  may  become  a  people  raised  up  of  God  to  rain  the 
light  of  liberty  and  true  piety  on  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Make 
haste  to  fulfill  thy  promises,  to  bring  in  Jew  and  Gentile  as  one  family, 
without  divisions,  without  hatreds,  without  bickerings  and  conten- 
tions. May  the  whole  earth  at  last  rest  in  peace,  in  the  salvation  of 
its  God. 

And  to  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  shall  be  praises 
everlasting.  Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

O0K  Father,  we  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  bless  the  word 
spoken,  that  it  may  be  a  word  of  instruction,  of  incitement,  and  of 
comfort.  Be  with  those  who  need  thee  most;  those  who  are  under 
temptation;  those  who  are  grievously  burdened;  those  who  are  dis- 
couraged by  the  greatness  of  the  way.  Be  as  the  shadow  of  a  great 
rock  in  a  weary  land  to  those  who  are  faint  in  the  wilderness  of  their 
life.  O  Lord,  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  be  bread  to  those  who  are  starv- 
ing, whether  of  heart  hunger  or  hunger  of  body.  Draw  near  to  those 
who  are  blind  so  that  they  cannot  see  the  way,  and  be  eyes  to  them. 


90  FORETOKENS  OF  RESURRECTION. 

Be  near  to  those  who  are  sitting  desolate  as  captives  in  a  prison. 
Grant  that  they  may  have  deliverance  in  thee.  Be  with  all  thy  serv- 
ants of  every  name.  More  and  more  fill  them  with  thy  spirit.  Take 
away  their  sins  and  their  temptations,  and  exalt  them  into  the  beauty 
of  holiness. 

Lead  thy  flock  like  a  shepherd  through  the  wilderness ;  and  bring 
it  at  last,  with  exceeding  joy  and  glory,  into  thine  own  presence  in 
the  world  to  come.  And  to  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Spirit  shal' 
be  the  praise  evermore.  Amen. 


"Behold,  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  within  you."— LUKE  xvii.,  21. 


This  same  declaration  runs  through  the  New  Testament. 
Under  different  forms,  the  truth  was  known  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament that  the  power  of  life  lay,  not  in  external  things,  but 
in  the  internal  nature  and  dispositions  of  men  ;  yet  there  was 
great  emphasis  put  upon  it  by  the  Saviour  and  his  apostles. 
You  will  find,  for  instance,  Paul,  in  the  14th  of  Romans, 
saying,  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink." 
Now  "meat  and  drink"  refers  unquestionably  to  the  sacrifi- 
cial elements,  or  to  the  most  solemn  and  significant  part  of 
the  symbolic  worship  of  the  Temple — that,  therefore,  to  which 
the  Jews  attached  a  very  precious  significance.  The  apostle 
says,  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is  not  these  instruments  of  wor- 
ship, these  symbols  of  truth  :  it  is  righteousness,  right-living 
— that  is,  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  And  then,  as 
if  he  had  an  eye  to  the  thousand  and  one  sects  which  prevail, 
each  one  claiming  everybody,  and  each  one,  with  more  or  less 
uncharitableness,  holding  it  to  be  very  uncertain  whether 
any  would  be  saved  that  did  not  belong  to  their  church,  he 
adds,  "  He  that  in  these  things  [that  is,  in  righteousness,  and 
peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost]  serveth  Christ,  is  accepta- 
ble to  God,  and  approved  of  men." 

He  that  has  these  right  inward  dispositions,  then,  is  or- 
thodox, put  him  in  any  sect  you  please.  You  may  set  a 
diamond  in  pewter,  or  in  lead,  or  in  copper  or  brass, 
or  in  silver  or  gold,  and  it  is  a  diamond  still.  It  is 
a  diamond  in  all  settings.  So  you  may  put  a  man  who 

SUNDAY  MORNING,  April  12,  l£i.    LKSJON  :   Rom.  xill.       HYMNS  (Plymouth 
Collection) :  Nos.  255,  604,  13B3. 

" 


94  SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL. 

pre-eminently  lias  the  spirit  of  Christ  in  him  into  any 
sect  (I  do  not  care  which  one  you  call  the  lead,  or  the 
pewter,  or  the  copper,  or  the  brass,  or  the  silver,  or  the 
gold),  it  is  the  Christ-disposition  that  makes  him  approved 
of  men  and  accepted  of  God.  It  is  not  his  orderliness,  it 
is  not  his  lineage,  it  is  not  his  social  connections,  it  is  riot 
his  various  obediences,  it  is  not  his  worship  or  service,  but 
all  that  lies  back  of  these,  and  which  these  were  designed 
to  feed  and  to  educate,  that  determines  his  manhood. 
It  is  not  in  points  of  belief,  it  is  not  in  organized  philo- 
sophical doctrines,  that  the  kingdom  of  God  consists.  The 
kingdom  of  God  may  be  ministered  to  by  these  things,  but 
the  kingdom  of  God  itself  is  soul-power.  It  is  the  living 
force  of  a  living  man.  And  when  that  living  force  of  a 
living  man  is  inspired  of  God,  when  it  moves  according  to 
the  divine  disposition,  then  it  is  the  kingdom  of  God. 

There  is  something  in  this  declaration — namely,  the  local- 
ization of  the  root  of  God's  kingdom  in  the  individual.  We  are 
accustomed  to  hear  it  said  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  in  the 
church.  I  hope  it  is.  It  would  be  hard  for  any  church  that  had 
not  in  it  one  man  who  had  the  kingdom  of  God  in  him  ;  and 
when  the  church,  has  such  a  man  in  it,  it  has  in  it  the  king- 
dom of  God;  but  the  church  is  not  that  kingdom.  No 
association  of  good  men  distinctively  and  primarily  is  the 
kingdom  of  God.  God's  kingdom  establishes  itself  in  the 
individual ;  and  wherever  there  is  a  single  person  who  has  in 
him  righteousness,  joy,  love  and  peace,  these  distinctively 
Christian  traits  ruling  in  him,  there  is  the  kingdom  of  God, 
and,  so  far  as  the  individual  is  concerned,  the  disposition  of 
God,  the  whole  of  it,  or  the  elements  out  of  which  its  whole- 
ness is  yet  to  be  completed.  It  is  a  perfect  thing  in  an  indi- 
vidual. Now,  you  may  multiply  individuals,  and  thus  aug- 
ment their  power  by  association  ;  but  the  Kingdom  of  God 
resides  in  each  person, — or  nowhere. 

You  will  take  notice  how,  in  the  New  Testament,  without 
ostentation,  without  the  blowing  of  any  trumpet,  without  the 
making  of  any  declaration,  the  unit  is  shifted.  In  the 
Hebrew  economy,  the  father  was  the  federal  head  of  the 
family.  The  whole  family  stood  in  him.  Still  more  wa^  th'g 


SUMMER    l.\    THE  SOUL.  95 

80  in  the  Roman  administration  and  commonwealth.  The 
child  was  in  the  father,  and  the  father  owned  the  wife  and 
the  servant.  Therefore,  in  the  more  barbarous  periods  of  the 
early  ages,  when  the  father  had  committed  a  sin,  the  whole 
family  was  punished  ;  because  the  family  was  he,  and  he  was 
it.  The  household  was  a  unit.  But,  without  saying  any- 
thing on  the  subject,  the  New  Testament  quietly  assumes 
that  the  individual  is  the  unit  in  society,  and  that  the  child 
is  not  held  responsible  for  the  parent,  nor  the  parent  for  the 
child  when  he  is  grown,  but  each  one  for  himself.  It  is  thus 
declared  in  the  language  of  the  apostle  : 

"  So  theu  every  one  of  us  shall  give  account  of  himself  to  God." 

Now,  if  you  put  the  emphasis  wrong,  you  stumble  on  that 
passage,  Many  men  read  it,  "  So  then  every  one  of  us  shall 
give  account  of  himself";  they  think  it  is  a  solemn  dec- 
laration of  accountability.  But  the  emphasis  should  not  be 
put  on  the  word  account ;  particular  reference  is  made  to 
every  separate  individual  person,  and  the  passage  should  be 
read,  "  Every  one  shall  give  account  of  himself  to  God."  It 
stands  in  the  argument,  saying  that  a  man  must  be  let  alone; 
that  is,  that  he  is  free  ;  and  that  because  he  is  free,  you  have 
no  right  to  domineer  over  him  by  your  authority,  nor  to 
make  your  conscience  the  pattern  of  his  thought — that  he  is 
responsible  to  God.  To  his  own  master  he  stands  or  falls. 
"Every  one  shall  give  account  of  himself  to  God."  There- 
fore stand  out  of  his  way,  and  do  not  oppress  him,  nor  hinder 
him,  nor  shackle  him.  It  is  an  argument  of  individual 
liberty. 

This  is  the  great  truth  of  the  New  Testament — namely, 
that  in  the  spiritual  realm  each  one  stands  for  a  whole.  We 
are  not  regarded  by  the  Lord  primarily  as  composite  elements 
of  the  church  nor  as  members  of  a  family  or  of  a  nation — 
though  we  hold  all  these  subsidiary  and  subordinate  rela- 
tionships. Each  individual  of  us  is  looked  upon  as  an 
empire,  as  a  kingdom  ;  and  when  rightly  builded  and  related, 
it  is  the  kingdom  of  God  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Now,  Ihis  kingdom  does  not  exist  in  men  by  nature.  It 
COTTS  not  with  observation.  It  is  not  a  physical  kingdom  ; 
it  is  not  a  fleshly  kingdom  :  it  is  a  kingdom  that  is  set  up  in 


96  SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL. 

each  person's  heart,  and  earned  on  step  after  step,  by  disci, 
pline,  by  instruction,  by  influences  of  a  thousand  kinds  ;  anc 
although,  being  begun,  it  is  carried  far  forward  in  this  life, 
often  it  is  perfected  only  in  the  life  which  is  to  come. 

We  have  been  taught  that  men  by  nature  are  without  ho- 
liness. We  have  been  taught  that  by  reason  of  the  fault  of 
our  great  ancestor  we  are  all  of  us  inheriting  a  certain  some- 
thing, a  part  of  which  is  a  want  of  righteousness.  We  are 
taught  that  we  are  not  good  naturally — that  we  are  not  by 
nature  holy.  It  is  just  as  true  as  it  can  be  that  we  are  not 
holy  by  nature.  Whatever  Adam  had  to  do  with  it,  one  thing 
is  very  certain :  that  every  one  who  is  born  into  this  life  is 
born  as  empty  of  the  kingdom  of  God  as  possible.  So  a  man 
is  born  empty  of  walking.  A  man  is  born  empty  of  seeing. 
And  a  man  is  born  empty  of  hearing.  We  are  told  that  men 
lack  oiiginal  righteousness.  Well,  they  lack  original  muscle- 
ness.  They  lack  bones.  A  man  is  nothing  but  gristle  to 
start  on.  When  he  begins  in  this  life  he  does  not  know  how 
to  stand,  or  move,  or  run.  He  is  empty  of  saltatory  accom- 
plishments. He  is  empty  also  of  carving,  and  painting,  and 
arithmetic,  and  geography.  He  is  empty  of  science.  He  is 
empty  of  everything.  He  is  a  bundle  of  emptinesses  that  are 
to  be  filled  up.  And  men  are  bom  destitute  not  only  of  phys- 
ical accomplishments,  but  of  intellectual,  social,  and  spiritual 
elements.  They  are  born  destitute  of  spiritual  elements,  be- 
cause they  are  born  destitute  of  everything.  They  begin 
below  everything,  and  then  quietly  develop,  and  rise  up,  step 
by  step,  and  come,  not  to  righteousness  alone,  but  to  every 
physical  excellence,  and  to  every  social  excellence.  Whatever 
they  reach,  they  come  to  by  a  process  of  education  and  un- 
folding ;  and  at  the  beginning  they  are  not  more  deficient  in 
spiritual  and  moral  elements  than  in  social  and  physical  ele- 
ments. It  is  given  to  man  to  be  born  as  a  mere  collection  of 
tendencies;  and  it  is  the  business  of  life  to  develop  these 
tendencies. 

Men  will  develop  differently,  because  there  is  a  potent 
force  which  exists  in  different  proportions  in  different  indi- 
viduals. The  great  question  of  heredity  comes  in  here.  Men 
start  composed  differently.  They  have  the  same  faculties, 


SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL.  97 

just  as  all  English  literature  has  one  alphabet ;  but  as  with 
this  alphabet  infinitely  different  spellings  are  allowed,  and 
words  and  meanings  are  multiplied,  and  phrases  and  sen- 
tences are  varied  and  combined,  so  men  having  the  same  fac- 
ulties have  them  in  different  proportions  ;  and  men  starting 
differently  are  ultimately  to  represent  very  different  forms — 
or,  as  we  are  accustomed  to  say,  very  different  characters. 
All  are  substantially  alike  in  general :  it  is  only  specifically 
that  they  are  different. 

In  this  work,  then,  of  building  up  the  kingdom  of  God, 
each  man  is  regarded  in  his  separateness ;  and  the  root  in 
each  man  is  to  be  developed,  and  the  kingdom  is  to  be  estab- 
lished by  each  one  in  himself.     It  is  only  another  name  for 
education  carried   on  to  the  higher  forms  of  the  faculties. 
We  understand  perfectly  what  it  is  to  develop  the  physical  ' 
kingdom  which  consists  of  strength  and  skill.     We  know 
what  it  is  to  educate  men  intellectually.    We  know  what  it  is      \ 
to  educate  them  socially  to  refinement  of  manners  and  accom- 
plishments.    We  understand  how  to  develop  the  kingdom  of 
society,  the  kingdom  of  matter,  and  the  kingdom  of  thought 
in  men  ;  and  by  precisely  the  same  lines  and  analogies  we  are 
to  develop  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  or  the  higher  spiritual^ 
graces  and  elements,  in  men. 

It  would  seem  as  if,  since  this  is  the  highest  and  comes  3 
the  latest,  it  would  be  the  most  difficult.  It  is  in  fact,  but 
not  in  philosophy;  for  there  is  in  the  development  of  man  as 
a  spiritual  being  a  central  element  which  does  not  belong, 
that  I  know  of,  to  any  other  part  of  his  development.  When 
a  man  is  being  educated  physically,  you  are  obliged  to  think 
of  a  thousand  things  ;  you  are  obliged  to  watch  over  the  dif- 
ferent relationships  which  he  sustains  to  matter,  to  food,  to 
air,  to  water,  to  light.  There  is  no  one  central  element  which, 
being  observed,  takes  care  of  the  others,  in  the  physical  de- 
velopment of  man.  And  the  same  is  true  of  his  intellectual 
and  aesthetic  and  social  education.  But  when  you  come  to 
the  spiritual  and  highest  realm,  there  is  a  distinctive  pecul- 
iarity in  that  range — namely,  that  there  is  given  to  us  in 
our  higher  nature,  in  our  spiritual  relations,  a  central  and 
sovereign  disposition  which,  when  it  is  brought  to  force, 


98  SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL. 

to  power,  regulates  and  controls  all  other  elements.  This  is 
the  great  central  element  of  love,  of  which  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  so  full,  and  of  which  theology  is  so  empty.  This 
great  central  spring  when  ooce  put  in  play,  so  that  it  acts  in 
full  force  in  its  own  sovereign  tendency,  regulates,  expels 
things  that  are  to  be  expelled,  throws  out  excrementitious 
matter,  harmonizes,  subordinates,  and  gives  tone  to  the  mind. 
If  a  man  takes  care  of  that  one  central  element,  it  in  turn 
takes  care  of  all  the  other  elements. 

Now,  there  is  no  one  quality  or  tendency  in  the  physical 
realm  which,  being  educated,  brought  into  the  ascendant, 
and  cared  for,  takes  care  of  everything  else  ;  nor  is  there  any- 
thing in  the  intellectual  realm  which,  being  once  made 
central,  impleted  and  kept  full,  acts  as  a  regulator ;  but  in 
the  moral  and  spiritual  realm,  in  the  dispositions  which 
are  the  hardest  to  attain,  which  are  regarded  by  men  almost 
as  shadowy,  and  sought  for  in  a  thousand  difficult  ways,  there 
is  this  central  regulating  principle  of  love  to  God  and  love  to 
man,  which,  being  strong  and  active,  exerts  an  influence 
under  which  everything  else  takes  care  of  itself — under  which 
humility  takes  care  of  itself,  meekness  takes  care  of  itself,  and 
patience  takes  care  of  itself.  All  qualities  that  seek  to  estab- 
lish themselves  according  to  righteousness  will  fall  out  nat- 
urally under  the  influence  of  continuous  and  purified  love 
to  God  and  to  man,  and  will  come  of  themselves,  as  do  all 
flowers  under  the  influence  of  summer. 

Moralists  are  like  men  who  want  flowers  in  winter.  Every 
flower  that  a  man  gets  in  winter  he  has  to  look  after.  If  lie 
gets  twenty  geraniums,  he  has  to  take  twenty  roots,  and  put 
them  in  twenty  pots,  in  twenty  places,  under  glass  ;  and  h;1 
to  keep  them  warm  by  means  of  furnaces  ;  and  has  to  watch 
against  their  being  destroyed  by  frost ;  and  has  to  keep  them 
from  aphides,  and  everything  else  that  threatens  them  ;  and 
he  gets  just  what  he  seeks  for,  and  nothing  more  ;  and  what 
he  gets,  he  gets  by  the  hardest. 

But  when  June  and  July  come  you  do  not  get  alone  just 
what  you  plant  in  your  garden.  If  you  put  in  roses,  and 
tulips,  and  hyacinths,  and  daisies,  you  will  get  these,  to  be 
eure ;  but  you  will  not  stop  with  these ;  because  the  sun, 


SUMMER  IX    THE  Son.  99 

shining  and  warming  the  atmosphere,  will  bring  forth  all 
forms  of  vegetation  ;  and  myriads  of  flowers  and  grasses 
besides  those  which  you  plant  will  edge  your  bed  about.  All 
nature  broods,  and  broods,  and  develops  many  things  which 
man  does  not  sow,  nor  plant,  nor  cultivate. 

Now,  there  is  this  same  analogy  in  the  moral  realm.    Men    C^ 
often  seek  to  build  up  this,  that,  or  the  other  petty  virtue.    One 
man  learns  to  hold  his  tongue.     Well, — that  is  a  good  thing 
to  do — (and,  on  the  whole,  I  was  unfortunate  in  that  illustra- 
tion ;  because  I  recollect  that  one  of  the  apostles  somewhere 
says  something  to  the  effect  that  if  a  man  is  able  to  hold  his 
tongue  he  is  a  perfect  man.     The  declaration  is,  substantial- 
ly, that  if  a  man  can  do  that,  he  can  do  anything  else — not 
that  he  necessarily  does.)     But,  men  attempt  in  spots  to  es- 
tablish single  virtues.     They  attempt  in  special  emergencies 
to  bring  out  a  certain  Christian  quality  just  as  they  deal  out 
medicine.     There  is  an  ache ;  and  there  must  be  this  pilule 
or  pill,  as  the  case  may  be,  Tvhich  is  special  to  that  particular 
trouble.     So  men  are  -rying  to  be  Christians  by  specialties. 
They  try  to  build  up  a  moral  and  spiritual  character  by  watch- 
ing against  separate  temptations  here  and  there.     But  the\ 
truth  is  that  a  man  whose  soul  is  educated  in  the  atmosphere    \ 
of  divine  love  has  that  within  him  which  ministers  to  all    J 
these  qualities,  all  the  time  ;  and  the  soul  is  full,  and  is  con-  / 
stantly  overflowing  them  automatically.     Tt  is  summer  in  a   ^ 
man,  and  everything  is  growing  there,  when  once  you  raise  / 
this  element  into  ascendancy  in  him.     Furnace  heat  will  be   ) 
no  longer  needed  when  the  solar  blaze,  this  wonderful  prin-  / 
ciple  which  germinates  and  regulates  everything,  gains  con- 
trol.    Without  it,  everything  is  force-work  ;  with  it,  every- 
thing is  spontaneous.     Without  it,  everything  is  clashing  and 
irregular;  with  it,  everything  is  harmonious  and  perfectly 
orderly.     Without  it,  everything  is  special  and  partial  ;  with 
it,  everything  is  systematic  and  universal  all  through  life.     If 
one  can  mount  up  to  that  higher  development  of  the  soul 
where  God's  kingdom  lies  ;  if  one  can  come  into  possession  of 
that  conquering  benevolence  which  is  of  God,  which  is  like 
God,  which  goes  back  to  God,  and  which  has  in  it  something 
of  the  infinite  power  of  God  ;  if  one  can  establish  himself  on 


100  SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL. 

that,  and  give  it  force  and  instrumentality,  then  he  occupies 
a  position  in  which  he  is  master  of  himself  and  the  various 
elements  that  are  around  about  him.  The  whole  work  lies 
in  this  one  thing — and  that  is  more  than  you  can  say  of  any 
other  development. 

We  have  heard  it  said  that  the  higher  forms  of  spiritual 
growth  are  the  most  difficult.  They  have  been  the  most  diffi- 
cult because  men  have  attempted  to  produce  them  by  special- 
ties. They  have  undertaken  to  unfold  this  virtue  and  that 
virtue  as  elements  independent  of  all  others.  In  so  doing 
they  have  reversed  the  true  order.  If  one,  at  the  beginning, 
rises  to  this  great  central  principle  ;  if  he  unites  himself  by 
faith  with  the  spirit  of  Christ,  then  with  that  spirit  comes 
re'gulation,  and  harmony,  and  growth,  and  all  spiritual  truth. 

The  true  work  of  life,  then,  is  the  development  of  this 
divine  disposition  in  the  soul,  not  simply  for  the  sake  of  the 
thing  itself,  but  for  the  sake  of  all  those  other  things  over 
which  it  has  an  expulsive  or  educating  force  in  the  mind. 

This  never  happens  of  itself.  We  come  to  this  divine 
dominant  disposition  not  by  chance,  but  by  choice.  If  any 
man  supposes  that  men  are  born  into  life  absolutely  good,  he 
knows  but  little  of  human  nature.  Some  men  are  born  far 
better  organized  than  others ;  men  are  born  relatively  differ- 
ent ;  but  after  all,  there  is  an  element  which  is  not  born  with 
men,  and  the  tendency  to  which  is  not  born  with  men — 
namely,  this  central  God-element — this  disinterested  benevo- 
lence. Centrality  of  power  in  efficient  love — this  is  not  born 
in  men.  No  man  gets  it  by  waiting.  It  does  not  come  by 
accident.  No  man  receives  it  through  an  unexpected  flush. 
It  is  a  matter  of  deliberate  intelligence  and  deliberate  choice. 
Men  must  obtain  it  as  we  obtain  anything  else — the  seed-form 
coming  first,  and  the  developed  form  afterwards. 

The  beginnings  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  every  man  are 
not  knowledge,  not  zeal,  not  conscientiousness,  not  truth — 
and  that  I  say  without  any  imputation  on  these  things.  The 
true  soul-force  which  is  to  recreate  every  man,  and  prepare  him 
for  heaven,  is  this  central  disposition  of  divine  beneficence. 
There  is  a  definite  order  of  development ;  but  the  beginning 
and  the  end  of  it  are  love.  There  is  an  order  of  development 


SUMMXlt    L\  THE  SOUL.  101 

of  men  in  all  their  subordinate  faculties — in  their  under- 
stunJing,  in  their  social  relations,  in  their  business  affairs,  in 
their  connection  with  the  world,  with  the  family,  with  the 
church,  and  with  the  commonwealth  of  mankind ;  but  this 
element  of  love  is  common  to  all  and  central  to  all.  It  is  to 
a  man  what  the  main-spring  is  to  a  watch. 

If  you  ask  me  to  criticise,  by  this  standard,  the  thought 
and  purposes  of  men,  I  will  say  first,  in  regard  to  morality, 
that  it  is  not  a  thing  to  be  despised  nor  to  be  inveighed 
against.  It  is  an  indispensable  excellence.  There  can  be  no 
spirituality  without  morality.  It  is  that  which  every  man 
should  seek,  or  that  which  every  man  should  develop.  But 
alone,  by  itself,  it  is  simple  conformity  to  external  rules  and 
regulations.  External  rules  and  regulations  are  admirable, 
many  of  them  ;  nevertheless,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  within 
you.  Help  yourselves  just  as  much  as  you  have  a  mind 
to  by  external  rules  and  regulations ;  but  the  main  thing  is 
to  establish  in  yourself  that  disposition  of  power  and  control 
which  shall  change  thought,  purpose,  will,  feeling,  every- 
thing. Mere  conformity  to  morality  may  not  be  against  pro- 
priety in  the  family,  in  the  State  or  in. the  church  ;  it  is  far 
better  than  nothing.  But,  after  all,  a  merely  moral  man— ^ 
with  a  good  temperament,  and  a  good  disposition,  is  an^^ 
uneducated  and  spiritually  fruitless  man.  A  moral  man 
surrounded  by  a  moral  state  of  the  public  mind  is  like  a 
grape-vine  taken  up  and  laid  on  a  trellis,  running  up  ten 
feet,  and  being  proud  because  it  covers  the  trellis  with  great 
broad  leaves.  You  cannot  see  anything  except  the  leaves ; 
but  the  vine  plumes  itself  on  being  so  thrifty,  and  says, 
"  Am  I  not  laid  in  well  ?  Don't  you  see  what  the  gardener 
has  done  ?  He  has  taken  the  stems  near  the  ground,  and 
carried  the  one  on  the  right  up  there,  the  one  on  the  left 
up  there,  and  the  central  one  up  here ;  they  are  all  close 
pruned ;  and  they  cover  the  trellis  perfectly.  They  have 
just  as  much  wood  as  they  ought  to  have,  and  no  more. 
Now,  really,  am  I  not  well  laid  in  ?"  I  say,  "Yes,  you  are 
laid  in  beautifully." 

About  June  I  go  and  survey  that  vine  again,  and,  vainly  \ 
searching  the  air  for  the  delicate  fragrance,  say,  "  Where  are 


102  SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL. 


your  blossoms  ?"  "  W^^X^flB^Jajgwjabout  blossoms.  I 
have  heard  a  great  "deal  about  blossoms  ;  but  I  'believe  in 
tough,  hardy  leaves.  See  my  leaves.  See  how  well  I  am 
laid  in.  See  how  orderly  and  regular  I  am." 

By  and  by  I  go  again,  and  look,  and  say,  "Where  are 
your  clusters  ?"  '  '  Clusters  ?  I  have  heard  about  clusters  ; 
there  are  some  fancy  vines  that  think  a  great  deal  of 
clusters  ;  but  look  at  me.  See  how  healthy  and  regular  I  am. 
See  how  well  I  am  laid  in."  It  is  empty  of  blossoms  and 
empty  of  fruit  ;  but  it  is  very  proud  to  think  that  it  is  well 
laid  in,  and  that  it  has  such  great  healthy  leaves.  What  is 
such  a  vine  good  for  ? 

Now,  men  think  in  regard  to  morality  just  in  the  same 
way.  They  think,  "I  am  a  good  husband;  I  am  a  kind 
father  ;  I  am  an  honest  man  ;  I  pay  my  debts  ;  I  am  a  good 
neighbor  ;  I  am  laid  in  all  right."  Yes,  in  your  lower  nature 
you  are.  I  do  not  despise  grape-stalks  when  I  find  fault  with 
the  vine  because  it  has  no  clusters.  I  do  not  despise  the 
leaves  that  are  on  the  vine.  It  is  what  is  not  there  that 
I  find  fault  with  the  vine  for.  I  say,  You  ought  to  be  a 
good  father  and  a  good  husband  ;  you  ought  to  be  a  good 
mother  and  a  good  wife  ;  you  ought  to  be  a  good  brother  or 
sister  ;  you  ought  to  be  a  good  teacher  :  all  these  things  are 
right  ;  but  they  are  nothing  more  than  leaf-forms.  You  are 
regular  ;  you  are  pruned  in  respect  to  excrescences  and  ram- 
pant growths  ;  you  are  laid  in  well  ;  you  are  admirable  as  far 
as  you  go  ;  but  where  are  your  blossoms  ?  Where  is  your 
fruit  ? 

Men  were  born  to  be  more  than  animals,  more  thaa  social 
beings,  more  than  civic  creatures  of  this  horizon-bound  clime. 
The  circuit  of  the  sun  is  not  the  circuit  of  the  soul.  The 
paths  which  we  are  to  tread  are  not  such  as  the  stars  tread. 
We  are  of  God.  Ours  is  infinite  duration.  We  belong  to 
the  commonwealth  of  the  universe.  We  are  allied  to  the 
noblest  natures,  to  princes,  and  thrones,  and  dominions,  and 
powers  infinite  and  innumerable.  They  are  ours  ;  all  things 
are  ours  ;  and  we  are  Christ's. 

When  I  look  upon  men  I  do  not  find  fault  with  them  be- 
cause they  are  good  in  their  neighborhoood  —  they  ought  to 


SI'MMER  IN  THE  SOUL.  103 

be  good  there  ;  I  do  not  find  fault  with  men  because  they  are\ 
upright  in  business — they  ought  to  be  ;  but  where  is  your  ) 
manhood  ?  These  other  things  are  your  earthhood  ;  where  is  / 
that  which  distinctively  is  your  spiritual  manhood  ?  Those  S 
things  which  unite  you  to  God  are  within  you — higher  and  J 
nobler  dispositions  ;  virtues  ;  spiritual  qualities  ;  those  that/ 
rise  above  the  ordinary  and  lower  ranges  of  human  life. 

I  criticise,  by  the  enunciation  of  these   principles,  the 
Method  by  which  men  attempt  to  come  to  Christian  devel- 
opment— namely,    painful   watching;    specializing  of    daily 
duty  ;   in  short,  the  whole  dominion  of  conscience.     It  is 
true  that  every  man  needs  all  the  faculties  which  he  possesses; 
but  it  is  not  true  that  every  man  works  as  well  by  one  faculty 
as  by  another,  when  it  is  in  the  ascendency.     Every  man,  in 
order  to  be  an   eminent  Christian,  should  have  the  various 
faculties  of  his  mind  more  or  less  brought  into  play ;  the  rea- 
son, among  other  things,  should  have  its  part,  and  perform 
an  important  function  ;  and  there  should  be  pre-eminent  in 
men  an  interpretation  of  conscience  :    but  experience  has  \ 
shown  that  men  who  attempt  to  develop  the  kingdom  of  God  \ 
in  power,  by  the  submission  of  their  life  to  conscience,  are  un-    , 
happy  just  in  proportion  as  their  conscience  is  acute;  for  this   / 
is  a  faculty  which  grows  by  what  it  feeds  on.      It  is  in-  ^ 
exorable.     The  more  sensitive  it  becomes  the  more  it  blames. 
The  more  nearly  you  come  to  perfection  the  more  imperfect  •— 
you  feel.     Conscience,  when  it  is  the  ruling  faculty,  fills  men 
with  discontent,  and  so  with  a  kind  of  perverted  moral  con- 
sciousness.    There  are  many  men  who  would  scorn  the  impu- 
tation of  living  for  themselves  ;  but  they  are  all  the  time  re- 
volving about  themselves,  by  reason  of  the  influence  of  their 
consciences  upon  them.     And  it  makes  not  only  them,  but 
those  that  are  around  about  them,  unhappy. 

Some  men's  consciences  are  like  some  old-fashioned 
New  England  housewives.  They  are  so  intolerably  indus- 
trious, they  are  so  outrageously  neat,  that  nothing  has  any 
peace  in  the  house.  They  are  searching  and  sweeping  night 
and  day.  They  run  hither  and  thither  in  their  zeal ;  and  no- 
body dares  to  sit  down,  or  stand  up,  or  come  in,  or  go  out. 
Everybody  is  disturbed  and  made  uncomfortable  by  those 


104  SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL. 

insatiable  housewives  who  want  everything  clean  and  orderly 
The  house  is  so  very  orderly  and  clean  that  nobody  can  live 
in  it.  And  there  are  persons  whose  consciences  will  not  give 
them  any  rest,  and  who  are  all  the  time  thinking  about  what 
they  are  thinking,  and  what  they  are  not  thinking  ;  about 
what  they  are  doing,  and  what  they  are  not  doing.  Their 
consciences  are  like  an  intrusive  light  that  goes  about  peering 
into  every  secret  place  ;  and  they  have  no  repose,  no  self-con- 
fidence, and  no  trust  in  God.  Inquisition,  inquisition, 
search,  search,  is  the  order  of  the  day  with  them.  A  man's 
conscience  is  like  some  detectives  that  I  meet.  I  know  them. 
They  may  be  without  belt  or  star;  but  they  are  unmistakable 
to  one  who  observes  them.  There  is  a  looking  and  seeing 
everything,  behind  and  before,  and  all  around,  without  seem- 
ing to  see  anything.  A  man  comes  into  the  car,  and  takes  a 
glance,  and  scans  everybody  there  in  a  minute  ;  and  yet  he 
does  it  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  be  noticed  by  ordinary  persons. 
A  man  comes  on  to  a  steamboat,  and  moves  gently  about,  and 
sees  every  group,  and  takes  a  general  estimate  of  all  the  pass- 
engers ;  and  yet  keeps  himself  inconspicuous,  and  quiet,  and 
unobserved.  There  are  people  whose  consciences  go  about  in 
the  same  way.  They  crouch  down,  and  look,  and  see  every- 
thing ;  and  they  do  it  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  attract  any 
notice  ;  and  yet  they  are  all  the  time  stirring  men  up,  tor- 
menting them,  and  taking  away  their  peace.  You  cannot 
thrive  under  conscience.  It  is  impossible. 

Conscience  is  the  traditional  stepmother,  that  knows  how  to 
wash  and  dress  the  children,  and  how  to  whip  them.  She 
gives  them  lessons,  and  lessons,  and  lessons,  but  very  little 
bosom.  Love  is  like  a  mother  indeed.  Many  a  mother  takes 
the  wicked  child  into  her  lap  and  melts  the  depravity  out  of 
him.  There  is  more  in  one  love-crush  to  make  a  child  feel 
guilty  than  in  all  the  spanks  you  could  put  upon  him. 
The  arm  is  stronger  than  the  hand.  And  men  who  attempt 
to  live  by  conscience-force;  men  who  attempt  to  build 
the  kingdom  of  God  in  themselves  by  the  mere  power 
of  conscience  might  as  well  take  the  job  of  organizing 
summer  in  Westchester  County,  and  seeing  that  all  the 
sorrel,  all  the  grass,  everything  that  grows  there,  comes 


SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL.  105 

up  at  the  right  time  and  in  the  right  way.  How  absurd 
it  would  be  for  a  man  to  attempt  by  special  care  of 
each  to  produce  in  their  due  season  the  various  kinds  of  plants 
and  flowers!  Let  him  stay  at  home,  and  when,  under  the  »— -s 
influence  of  the  sun,  the  air  is  warm  enough,  they  will  come 
forth. 

Now,  in  the  higher  Christian  life  this  incessant  attention 
to  a  man's  self,  and  attempting  to  act  under  the  dominion  of 
conscience,  is  full  of  disquiet,  and  acridness,  and  distress. 
You  never  can  reach  peace  along  the  way  of  conscience.*^- 
There  is  but  one  way  in  which  to  reach  it,  and  that  is  along 
the  way  of  love. 

What  men  want  is  something  that  has  in  it  the  divine^ 
nature — the  breeding,  the  inspiring  of  reflection — and  that 
quality  which  we  derive  from  Him  who  came  to  give  his 
life  for  the  world  that  was  destitute,  in  degradation,  and 
at  enmity  with  him — that  element  of  the  character  of 
God  by  which  the  heart  is  stimulated  and  made  to  aspire — 
that  form  of  love  which  brings  life,  and  spiritualizes  life,  and 
beautifies  life — that  which  gives  continuity,  and  ease,  and 
victory  to  a  man's  better  self — that  which  the  Bible  is  so  full 
of,  and  so  little  of  which  is  to  be  found  in  theology. 

I  have  heard  of  men  being  put  to  death  because  they  did 
not  believe  in  the  real  Presence  in  bread  and  wine ;  but  I 
never  heard  of  a  man  being  put  to  death  because  he  did  not 
love.  I  have  heard  of  men  being  put  to  death  because  they 
did  not  believe  in  the  true  church  ;  but  never  did  I  hear  of 
anybody  being  put  to  death  because  he  had  not  divine  dis- 
positions. 

A  man  may  be  stingy,  selfish,  grasping,  hard,  bitter- 
tongued,  and  bitter-thoughted,  and  no  man  arraigns  him  ;  he 
is  as  happy  in  the  church  as  a  swallow  in  a  barn,  and  nobody 
excludes  him  ;  but  if  a  man  says  that  he  does  not  believe  in 
the  Trinity,  then  the  cry  is,  "  Out  with  him  !  out  with  him  ! 
out  with  him  !  He  hasn't  right  ideas.  He  don't  believe 
'  In  Adam's  fall,  we  sinned  all.'  He  don't  believe  in  the 
total  depravity  of  mankind."  A  man  may  be  rancorous,  he 
may  be  cold-hearted,  he  may  be  unsympathizing,  he  may  be 
uncharitable,  he  may  be  full  of  worldliness  exteriorly  wrapped 


106  SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL. 

in  admirable  propriety  ;  he  may  be  like  a  bundle  of  nau- 
seousness  done  up  with  paper  and  a  string  that  are  all  right 
and  beautiful ;  he  may  have  all  manner  of  things  like  these 
about  him,  and  yet  he  is  tolerated ;  and  men  looking  upon 
him  say,  "Of  course,  we  are  all  fallible.  The  church  is 
meant  for  sinners,  therefore  the  church  is  full  of  them  ;"  but 
once  let  a  man  vary  in  respect  to  the  ordinance  of  baptism, 
once  let  him  believe  that  the  exhibition  of  water  as  a  symbol 
is  enough  as  compared  with  sprinkling  or  immersion,  as  the 
case  may  be,  and  it  goes  hard  with  him — it  goes  hard  with 
him  even  here,  and  in  this  nineteenth  century. 

There  are  now  four  Episcopal  Churches  in  England. 
The  Church  of  England  has  four  divisions  at  least,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  that  if  I  took  a  microscope  I  could  see  four- 
teen ;  and  these  divisions  do  not  turn,  in  any  instance,  on 
the  kingdom  of  God  in  men.  The  question  is  not,  in  one 
single  instance,  a  question  about  consecration,  love-power, 
faith,  inspiration,  insight,  or  victory  over  the  world.  It  is  a 
question  about  altars  and  candlesticks  in  some  cases ;  it  is  a 
question  about  cassocks  and  all  sorts  of  furniture  in  other 
cases  ;  it  is  a  question  about  methods  and  subordinations  in 
still  other  cases ;  it  is  a  question  about  facing  to  the  east  or 
to  the  west  inside  of  a  church  in  yet  other  cases.  Sometimes 
the  question  turns  on  lineal  descent — or  whether  we  came 
down  on  right  lines  or  not.  I  myself  believe  in  the  Apostolic 
succession  ;  I  do  not  believe  that  any  man  is  fit  to  be  a  min- 
ister of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  who  cannot  show  that  he  is 
lineally  descended  from  the  apostles — not,  however,  as  to  the 
ilesh,  but  as  to  the  spirit.  Any  man  who  can  say,  "  Though 
the  more  I  love  you  the  less  I  be  loved,  I  am  willing  to  spend 
and  be  spent  for  you  :  I  count  not  my  life  dear  unto  me  ;"  any 
man  who  can  say,  "  I  am  willing  to  be  an  off  scouring,  and  to 
die  deaths  daily ;"  any  man  who  can  say,  "  I  have  learned 
both  how  to  abound  and  how  to  be  abased ;"  any  man  who 
reaches  out  after  that  manhood  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  and 
shows  that  he  came  down  from  the  apostles  in  that  line — in 
his  inwardness,  in  his  moral  traits,  in  the  beauty  of  holiness 
— any  man  who  can  do  that,  I  think  is  fit  to  lead  the  church, 
and  is  ordained  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  But  if  any  man  comes 


>T.V  .V/-;H  IN  THE  SOUL.  107 

right  straight  down  from  the  apostles,  and  has  not  the  king- 
dom of  God  in  him,  I  do  not  think  he  is  fit  to  be  a  preacher 
of  the  Gospel.  Therefore,  while  I  believe  in  apostolicity, 
while  I  believe  in  the  line  of  descent  from  the  apostles,  it  is 
inward  and  spiritual,  and  not  outward  and  physical.  It  is  a 
tiling  which  is  not  imposed  by  any  touch — yes,  by  the  touch 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  it  is.  He  is  of  Christ  who  is  Christlike, 
and  he  is  not  of  Christ  who  is  unchristlike. 

Church  work,  then,  as  a  substitute  for  the  life-work  of 
men,  is  another  point  of  criticism.  Men  suppose  that  they 
are  doing  the  will  of  God  when  they  keep  Sunday  ;  when  they 
read  their  Bible  ;  when  they  say  their  prayers  ;  when  they  go 
to  church  ;  when  in  church  they  maintain  decorous  deport- 
ment ;  when  they  comply  with  all  church  forms  and  requisi- 
tions. They  have  an  idea  that  attending  to  these  duties  is 
religion. 

Well,  now,  a  boy  of  fifteen  years  of  age  wishes  to  develop 
in  himself  the  kingdom  of  health.  He  sits  down  at  the  table 
in  the  morning.  There  is  not  a  thing  in  any  dish  ;  but  there 
is  a  plate,  there  is  a  knife  and  fork,  there  is  a  cup  and  saucer, 
there  is  everything  which  is  needful  in  the  line  of  dishes  ;  and 
he  commences,  with  a  vain  show,  and  makes  as  if  he  were 
eating  off  from  his  empty  plate,  and  drinking  out  of  his 
empty  cup ;  and  when  he  has  gone  all  through  the  motions 
of  taking  a  meal,  he  gets  up,  and  goes  out,  and  says,  "There 
now,  I  am  ready  for  my  day's  work."  Is  not  a  boy  who  does 
that  like  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  Christians  on 
Sunday  ?  They  rise  up  in  the  morning  ;  and  they  arc  so  con- 
scientious that  they  would  not  shave  on  the  Lord's  day  ;  nor 
would  they  black  their  boots  on  that  day.  They  are  too  con- 
scientious to  do  any  work  on  Sunday.  They  go  to  church, 
arid  the  moment  they  arc  within  the  building  they  are  very 
sober.  They  are  shocked  at  anybody  who  looks  as  though  he 
were  happy.  They  sit  down  in  the  appointed  seat,  and  put 
their  feet  in  the  regular  position,  and  wait  till  the  services 
commence.  Then  they  go  tli  rough  the  proper  singing,  and 
listen  to  the  sermon ;  and  then  they  get  up  and  go  home. 
On  their  way  home,  they  say,  "  Our  dominie  was  not  quite 
so  good  as  usual  this  morning.  Well,  you  cannot  expect  a 


108  SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL. 

man  always  to  do  his  best.  But  the  singing  was  admirable, 
very  nice,  this  morning."  When  they  get  home,  they  walk 
into  the  house  very  sober,  and  eat  their  dinners  very  earnestly ; 
and  afterwards  (it  being  a  day  of  rest)  they  sleep.  When 
they  wake  up,  they  wonder  whether  it  would  be  wicked  to 
read  a  newspaper.  So  they  get  the  New  York  Observer, 
half  of  which  is  meant  for  week  days  and  the  other  half 
for  Sunday.  But  they  never  can  find  where  the  boundary 
runs ;  so  they  read  on,  and  read  on,  with  a  sort  of  suppressed 
feeling  that  they  have  done  wrong,  though  they  do  not  know 
as  they  have.  And  when  the  sun  goes  down  they  have  the 
feeling,  "  There  !  I  have  got  through  it.  Haven't  I  held 
out  well  ?"  That  is  called  growing  in  grace  !  Is  it  not  like 
eating  nothing  out  of  empty  dishes  ? 

How  many  there  are  who  never,  in  all  their  life,  form  a 
vivid  conception  of  the  distinction  between  the  work  of  God 
in  the  soul,  ripening  powerful  dispositions  into  noble  forms 
and  fruitfulness,  and  the  mere  instruments  by  which  that  is 
done  !  I  revere  the  Sabbath.  *  I  think  it  is  God's  blessing  to 
the  world.  I  certainly  revere  the  church,  and  love  it ;  but  I 
regard  it  as  simply  a  slave — my  slave.  What  are  all  these 
things  but  your  implements  and  your  tools  ?  Where  is  your 
work  ?  It  is  in  yourself.  What  is  it  ?  The  lessening  of 
pride  ;  the  reduction  of  selfishness  ;  the  inspiration  of  faith  ; 
the  larger  development  of  joy  into  peace,  and  of  peace  into 
joy.  You  are  to  have  such  sympathy  with  God  that  God 
himself  shall  come  to  be  enthroned  in  you  by  the  power  of 
love ;  by  its  prophecy  ;  by  its  action ;  by  its  discriminations 
and  disciplining  relationships.  By  this  you  become  men  ;  and 
if  the  Sabbath  ministers  to  this,  blessed  be  the  day.  If  it 
does  not,  it  is  empty.  If  the  Bible  helps  you  in  this,  it  is 
good.  If  it  does  not,  it  is  a  dish  bottom-side  up.  All  these 
are  helps  ;  but  the  thing  itself — the  kingdom  of  God — is  in 
you. 

Men  and  brethren,  do  you  think  I  preach  too  much  on 
this  subject  ?  I  believe  and  feel  that  we  are  coming  to  a  new 
Dispensation — not  to  a  new  sect.  I  should  abhor  a  sect. 
And  anything  in  this  world  that  I  should  abhor  more  than  an- 
other would  be  a  sect  with  my  name  on  it.  There  is  but 


SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL.  109 

one  name  that  should  be  borne  by  Christians,  and  that  is  the 
Name  above  every  name.  What  I  hope  for  and  long  for 
is  to  see  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  the  Baptist  churches,  and  the  Methodist  Church, 
and  the  Congregational  churches,  and  the  Swedenborgian 
Church,  and  the  Universalist  Church,  and  the  Unitarian 
Church,  and  all  the  other  churches  whose  names  I  have  for- 
gotten— what  I  hope  and  long  for  is  to  see  in  them  all  the 
spirit  of  Christ  so  prominent  that  their  characteristic  quality 
shall  be  the  one  which  is  in  the  candle — not  in  the  can- 
dlestick, which  may  be  of  gold,  but  which  of  itself  is  good 
for  nothing.  The  characteristic  of  the  candle  is  the  light 
which  it  sheds  out,  and  by  which  it  lights  everyone  that 
comes  into  the  house.  The  power  which  I  wish  to  see  in  the 
churches  is  the  scarcest,  and  yet  the  most  competent  to  do 
things  the  most  marvelous.  I  mean  the  power  which  there  is 
in  the  regenerated  soul  in  the  realm  of  divine  love. 

Oh  for  the  day  when  there  shall  be  an  enthusiasm  of 
fighting  by  the  power  of  love  !  Oh  for  the  day  when  the 
silver  trumpet  shall  throw  away  the  brass  one,  and  when  the 
war  shall  be  such  a  war  as  summer  wages  against  spring,  or 
as  spring  wages  against  winter,  warmth  fighting  against  cold, 
and  germinant  growths  against  barrenness  !  Oh  for  the  day 
when  men  shall  recognize  the  fact  that  it  is  not  in  the  lower 
life  physical,  nor  in  the  lower  life  social,  nor  in  the  lower  life 
intellectual,  nor  in  the  lower  lite  aesthetic  or  beautiful  or  im- 
aginative, but  in  the  life  that  is  higher  than  all  these,  and 
that  blossoms  out  from  these  as  the  flower  blossoms  from  the 
stem,  that  manhood  stands,  and  in  which  the  purity  of  the 
church  stands — namely,  the  power  of  Christ  in  men,  the  hope 
of  glory  !  There  is  the  whole  charter. 

My  own  life  passes  fast.  My  years  are  few  and  mostly 
spent.  I  am  not  far  from  seeing,  who  have  never  yet  seen  ; 
from  hearing,  who  have  never  yet  heard  ;  from  knowing  as  I 
am  known,  who  never  yet  knew.  And  as  the  days  go  on, 
and  the  city  comes  nearer,  this  burden  is  rolled  on  me,  which 
I  cannot  rid  myself  of — Christian  manhood  ;  the  kingdom  of 
(&od  in  peace  and  joy  and  lore ;  the  power  of  Christ  in  his 


110  SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL. 

disciples.  This  seems  to  me  the  first,  the  middle,  the  last, 
the  glory  of  time,  the  hope  of  the  world  ;  and  it  is  given  to 
me  to  preach  it,  with  growing  ardor,  with  intcnser  faith,  with 
more  yearning  and  longing.  And  may  God  grant  that,  when 
some  few  years  more  are  spent,  and  you  and  I  shall  rise  to  see 
each  other  in  the  heavenly  land,  it  may  be  with  nothing  to 
take  back,  with  more  glory  than  now  we  dream  of,  as  we 
clasp  inseparable  hands,  and  move  together  to  the  cadences 
of  love  around  about  the  throne  of  Him  who  loved  us,  and 
gave  himself  to  redeem  us,  that  we  might  become  kings  and 
princes  unto  God. 


SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL. 


PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

WE  have  no  need  to  come  to  thee,  O  our  Father,  to  tell  thee  what 
we  are,  or.  what  we  need.  Thou  knowest  what  things  we  have  need 
of  before  we  ask  thee;  and  from  thine  abundant  store  we  are  provid- 
ed with  thy  gifts  perpetually.  We  need  not  search;  for  thy  paths 
drop  fatness;  and  we  walk  therein  and  find  thee  there.  If  at  times 
they  be  hard,  and  straight,  and  narrow,  yet  at  other  times  they  are 
flower-clad  and  full,  on  either  side,  of  bounties  and  mercies.  But  our 
life  is  not  in  our  sense,  nor  in  our  outward  experience,  but  in  our 
soul.  Our  best  joys  are  those  which  are  deepest,  and  our  affections 
need  more  than  these  bodies.  The  life  is  more  than  meat. 

We  rejoice,  then,  that  thou  hast  made  thy  gifts  such  as  they  are, 
and  that  thou  hast  held  them  in  such  wise  that  if  they  are  to  be 
enjoyed  iu  their  full  we  must  needs  come  to  thee.  Their  fragrance  is 
of  thy  love  and  of  thy  kindheartedness  in  giving ;  and  we  draw  near 
to  thee  with  supplication,  but  yet  more  with  thanksgiving;  with 
petitions,  but  yet  more  with  a  recognition  of  mercies  in  over-measure. 

We  draw  near  to  thee,  knowing  that  thou  hast  first  drawn  near  to 
us.  It  is  not  the  bird  that  calls  the  sun,  but  the  sun  that  wakens  the 
bird  to  sing;  and  it  is  not  our  voice  that  calls  thee  near  to  us:  it  is  thy 
coming  near  that  draws  us  to  thee,  and  fills  our  hearts  with  strange 
joy. 

We  thank  thee  for  thyself,  and  for  as  much  of  the  revelation  of 
thyself  as  we  can  understand;  but  how  much  lies  beyond!  How  <-an 
selfishness  interpret  boundless  beneficence?  How  can  they  who 
ingurgitate  everything,  and  would  draw  the  very  seas  into  a  whirl- 
pool of  selfishness,  understand  Him  who  came  not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many?  We 
are  withstood  by  our  passions,  which  cannot  represent  thee,  through 
which  thou  canst  not  pierce  to  show  us  the  image  of  thyself;  and  how 
dead,  how  feeble  in  blossom,  and  how  fruitless  are  those  affections  in 
us  which  represent  the  divine  nature!  Our  condition  brings  us  to 
thee,  and  we  approach  thee  with  multiplied  petitions,  that  we  may 
be  delivered  from  our  lower  self,  that  we  may  be  born  out  of  the 
flesh  into  the  spirit,  and  that  by  holy  dispositions  and  sweet  affections 
we  may  have  in  us  those  elements  which  can  interpret  thee. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  make  thyself  known  to  us  by  all  those 
trials  which  are  needful;  by  all  that  discipline  which  shall  cleanse; 
by  that  pressure  to  escape  from  which  we  must  needs  fly  up  and  find 
exaltation. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  so  inform  us  by  thy  spirit  inwardly  that 
we  may  see  that  God  who  is  invisible,  and  dwell  as  seeing  him. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  to  us,  this  morning,  a  sense  of  thy 
great  goodness,  and  of  the  glory  of  that  goodness,  and  a  sense  of  the 
universality  of  thy  kingdom.  We  come  from  our  small  ways  and 
narrow  affairs,  pressed  in,  hedged  about,  beaten,  buffeted,  racketed 
hither  and  thither,  in  this  noisy  world  where  men  are  as  stones. 

Grant,  O  Lprd,  our  God,  that  we  may  have  some  conception  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  that  shall  deliver  us  from  the  poorness  and  the  bnr- 
renness  of  this  lower  sphere.  Thou  that  didst  come  to  open  the 


112  SUMMER  IN  THE  SOUL. 

prison  doors  and  to  set  free  the  captive,  deliver  us  from  the  confine- 
ment of  the  flesh,  from  the  limitations  of  our  narrow  ways;  and 
grant  us  some  sense  of  that  kingdom  of  God  which  is  within  us,  and 
which  is  to  go  on  enlarging  and  brightening,  and  becoming  more  and 
more  summer-like  in  the  production  of  all  the  fruits  of  righteousness. 
Grant  that  we  may  rise  somewhat  into  that  sphere  where  t'hou  dwell- 
est  habitually.  It  is  easy  for  thee  to  think  infinite  things;  and  grant, 
though  we  may  not  follow  thee,  nor  run  in  the  line  of  thy  thought 
by  our  poor  limping  way,  that  we  may  still  have  such  encourage- 
ment as  that  which  comes  from  the  fact  that  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness hath  arisen  with  healing  in  his  beams  and  be  held  up  above  the 
storm,  where  silence  dwells  that  is  full  of  untroubled  peace.  So  ruay 
we  have  a  sense  of  the  largeness  of  our  lives,  and  of  the  glory  of  the 
upper  sphere.  May  we  be  able  to  enter  into  it,  and  find  the  realiza- 
tion of  thy  promises.  Be  to  us  as  the  door  into  which  we  may  run  in 
the  day  of  battle.  Be  to  us  as  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary 
land,  full  of  grateful  coolness.  Be  to  us  as  a  fountain  in  the  desert 
where  we  may  slake  our  thirst  and  yet  live.  Be  to  us  as  brooding 
wings  underneath  which  we  may  trust.  O  Lord  our  God,  fulfill  all 
those  images  of  peace  and  protection  with  which  thou  hast  tempted 
our  thoughts. 

And  we  pray  that  in  thee  we  may  find  rest,  inspiration,  hope,  joy, 
life.  Thou  art  all  in  all.  Give  to  us,  then,  something  of  everything 
to-day;  for  all  our  nature  waits  for  that  which  we  ask,  that  we  may 
have  a  cleansing  sense  of  uplift,  of  patience  and  of  sweet  submission 
to  thy  will,  as  with  a  full  knowledge  of  its  goodness.  Grant  that  we 
may  have  a  sense  of  the  beauty  of  things  present  by  the  light  that  is 
shining  on  them  from  things  absent  and  far  away.  Grant  that  this 
life,  with  all  its  duties,  may  become  precious  to  us  by  reason  of  the 
relation  of  those  duties  to  our  immortal  blessedness.  We  pray,  above 
all,  that  we  may  have  that  strong  center  of  love  which  is  refreshed 
and  invigorated  from  thine  heart.  May  our  heart,  in  love,  stand  tri- 
umphant, sovereign  over  every  other  influence.  And  we  pray  that 
thou  wilt  sanctify  to  all  thy  dear  servants  thy  dealings  with  them ; 
and  if  any  are  bowed  down  as  the  rush  before  the  wind,  Lord,  lift 
them  up.  Thou  wilt  not  break  the  bruised  reed,  nor  quench  the 
smoking  wick  until  thou  bringest  forth  judgment  unto  victory. 

Give  the  victory  of  sorrow  to  those  who  are  in  affliction.  Give  the 
victory  of  knowledge  and  trust  to  those  who  are  in  doubt  and  per- 
plexity. Give  to  all  who  are  weary  that  victory  which  comes  from 
rest  in  God. 

Grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  all  those  who  are  perplexed  with  multi- 
plied cares,  and  who  are  so  harnessed  to  human  things  that  they  are 
perpetually  drawn  downward  toward  the  earth,  may  renew  their 
strength.  Grant  that  as  their  day  is  so  their  strength  maybe  also. 
Grant  that  they  may  be  conscious  that  God  pours  upon  them  the 
balm  and  refreshment  of  his  own  everlasting  strength. 

We  pray  that  those  who  are  under  responsibilities  that  gird  them, 
that  those  who  are  in  captivity,  being  under  the  dominion  of  their 
tormenting  consciences,  may  be  able  to  break  away  from  their  jailot 
and  know  that  they  are  not  prisoners  any  more,  but  Christ's  free  men 
in  the  commonwealth  of  love.    May  they  be  able  to  stand  up,  and 


SUMMEn   r.V  THE  SOUL.  113 

defy,  and  put  underneath  their  feet,  that  conscience  which  torments 
them.  Let  them  ever  be  under  the  dominion  of  love  in  the  realm  of 
grace.  Oh,  teach  us  what  is  the  liberty  of  the  soul.  Give  us  to  under- 
stand what  is  that  gift  which  thou  didst  come  to  bring  to  this  world. 
Pour  out  thy  love  on  hearts  which  are  as  a  wilderness,  that  they  may 
spring  up  and  bud  and  blossom  as  the  rose. 

Draw  near,  we  beseech  of  tbee,  to  all  who  are  in  perplexing  rela- 
tions, and  enable  them  to  maintain  manliness  in  the  Christian  life. 
Help  them.  They  need  succor  and  daily  support.  Minister  it  unto 
them. 

We  pray  for  those  who  are  beginning  to  live  with  new  thought  of 
life,  with  higher  intelligence,  and  with  better  purposes.  Grant  that 
they  may  not  be  discouraged  nor  become  weary.  May  they,  in  this 
life  that  is  full  of  imperfections,  every  time  they  fall,  be  lifted  up 
again ;  and  may  they  go  on  from  strength  to  strength,  knowing  that 
if  they  persevere  they  shall  yet  stand  in  Ziou  and  before  God. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  power  to  all  those  who  are  weak. 
Send  light  to  all  who  are  in  darkness.  Let  the  whispering  of  thy 
spirit  come  to  those  who  seem  solitary  in  desolate  places. 

Grant,  we  pray  thee,  to  all  who  are  seeking  thy  presence  and  com- 
fort, the  anointment  of  holy  oil  within.  Visit  those  who  are  bereaved, 
not  to  stay  their  tears,  but  to  sanctify  them ;  not  to  take  away  their 
sorrow,  but  to  make  that  sorrow  a  ministering  angel  to  them.  We 
pray  that  those  that  are  may  be  as  though  they  were  not;  that  those 
that  are  in  families  may  be  as  though  they  were  desolate.  May  we 
hold  all  things  as  in  a  shadow.  May  we  more  and  more  perceive  that 
the  things  which  are  seen  are  not;  and  more  and  more  may  we  be- 
lieve that  the  things  which  are  invisible  are.  May  we  understand 
that  our  strength  and  life  are  beyond  and  above,  in  the  great  realm 
of  the  coming  life;  and  may  we  prepare  for  it,  and  look  at  all  things 
here  as  they  stand  related  to  that  more  glorious  disclosure  which 
shall  be  made  to  us  when  God  shall  come,  and  we  shall  be  brought 
with  him  into  his  kingdom,  and  stand  before  the  hosts  of  angels  and 
rejoicing  saints  in  heaven. 

We  thank  thee  that  the  thought  of  heaven  grows  clearer  and 
clearer,  and  that  in  our  imagination  the  realm  above  is  growing  more 
and  more  populous,  and  that  there  are  so  many  there  who  know  us, 
that  there  are  so  many  going  continually  who  shall  know  us,  and 
that  we  are  not  to  be  strangers  in  a  strange  land,  but  that  heaven  is 
_becoming  more  and  more  a  home  to  us. 

Thus  may  our  601104$ linns,  sanchtied,  lift  us  up,  and  bring  us  very 
near  to  the  gate  from  whose  joy,  before  we  enter  it,  shall  roll  forth 
some  song;  and  grant  that,  perad venture,  some  leaves  of  the  tree 
of  life  may  fall,  and  that  we  may  catch  them  for  the  healing  of  our 
sorrow. 

We  pray  that  the  word  of  truth,  which  gives  us  strength  and  light, 
may  go  forth  to  those  who  sit  in  darkness.  May  there  be  a  Sabbath 
to  those  who  seek  no  rest  to-day.  May  there  be  a  gospel  to  those  who 
care  not  for  truth.  May  they  who  are  engaged  in  teaching  those  that 
are  out  of  the  way  not  be  weary  in  well-doing.  May  they  sow  abun- 
dantly, and  be  strong  in  the  faith  that  they  shall  re»p  an  hundred- 
fold. 


114  SUMMER  IN  THF  SOUL. 

Bless  thy  ministers  of  every  name.  Clothe  them  to-d:iy  with  the 
power  of  God,  that  they  may  make  known  the  counsel  of  God  for  the 
welfare  of  meu.  We  pray  that  thou  wilt  take  away  divisions  between 
ehurehes.  Remove  all  separating  walls.  Unite  thy  people  by  the  af- 
finities of  a  Christlike  love.  May  the  power  of  the  gospel  go  forth 
with  godliness  of  life,  with  kindliness  of  disposition,  and  with  right- 
eousness, throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  this  land.  Grant 
that  there  may  be  justice  and  liberty  everywhere.  Therefore,  errant 
intelligence,  that  ignorance  may  flee  away,  and  superstition,  and  its 
weakness.  May  the  power  of  man  to  oppress  his  fellow  man  be  de- 
stroyed by  the  strength  of  human  life  in  its  sacredness.  We  pray 
that  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  may  speedily  become  the  kingdoms 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  May  he  take  his  power  and 
reign  a  thousand  years. 

And  to  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  shall  be  praises 
everlasting.  Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

OTTK  Father,  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  illumine  our  darkness,  and 
give  us,  though  we  may  not  know  what  it  means,  that  guidance  which 
shall  bring  us  surely  to  thee.  What  does  the  poor  needle  know,  that 
points  steadily  northward?  And  though  we  do  not  know,  grant  that 
there  may  be  that  in  us  which  shall  turn  our  affections  steadfastly 
toward  thee. 

We  thank  thee  for  the  revelation  which  thou  bast  made  of  Jesus 
Christ.  We  accept  that  conception  of  divine  love-and  power  and  ac- 
tivity and  suffering  and  helpfulness  which  he  gave  to  the  world.  We 
rejoice  in  it.  It  is  just  what  we  need.  We  want,  O  biessed  Saviour, 
something  that  shall  have  compassion  on  us.  We  have  enough  to  con- 
demn us,  we  condemn  ourselves  enough,  we  are  enough  discouraged 
and  enough  in  the  dark;  we  have  struggles  and  battles  enough  with 
ourselves  and  with  the  world  around  about  us;  and  since  our  father  is 
gone  and  our  mother  is  gone  we  need  something  that  shall  be  more  to 
us  than  they  were.  And  thou,  O  blessed  Saviour  of  love  and  sympathy 
and  patience  toward  those  who  are  out  of  the  way,  we  come  to  thee 
for  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins.  We  come  to  thee  for  encouragement. 
We  come  to  thee  that  thou  mayest  be  to  us  as  a  bridge  on  which  we 
may  pass  over  that  great  gulf  which  separates  us  from  the  realm 
above.  We  come  to  thee  for  the  certitude  of  our  faith.  We  come  to 
thee  that  thou  mayest  be  the  Bread  of  life  to  our  hunger,  and  the 
Water  of  life  to  our  thirst.  We  come  to  thee  that  thon  mayest  be  all 
in  all  to  us. 

So  may  we  live  with  our  life  hidden  with  Christ  in  God  until  thou 
dost  appear;  and  then  may  we  appear  with  thee,  and  rejoice  with  a 
joy  which  no  man  can  take  away  from  us. 

And  to  thy  name  shall  be  the  praise.  Father,  and  Son,  and  Spirit. 
Amen. 


HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY. 


"  But  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long  suffering,  gen 
rleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance:  against  such  there  is 
no  law.  And  they  that  are  Christ's  have  crucified  the  flesh,  with  the 
affections  and  lusts.  If  we  live  in  the  Spirit,  let  us  also  walk  in  the 
Spirit.  Let  us  not  be  desirous  of  vain  glory,  provoking  one  another, 
envying  one  another."— GAL.  v.,  22-26. 


From  this  passage  I  mean  to  ask  and  to  answer  the  ques- 
tion, this  morning,  why  it  is  that  Christianity  has  made  com- 
paratively so  little  progress  in  this  world.  It  is  a  question 
worthy  of  our  consideration. 

What  was  the  power  that  Jesus  himself  manifested  ? 
And  first,  what  was  the  secret  of  it  ?  He  belonged  to  the 
Jews,  the  most  abhorred  nation  of  antiquity.  He  never  sepa- 
rated himself  from  the  manners  and  customs  of  his  people. 
He  worshiped  in  their  synagogues  and  in  their  temple  just  as 
they  did.  He  never  wrote  a  line  nor  a  word,  of  theology  or 
philosophy.  He  never  was  ordained.  He  never  took  upon 
himself  any  official  relation  to  mankind,  any  more  than  to  his 
own  people.  There  is  not  a  single  thing  in  all  his  speech,  as 
recorded  by  his  disciples,  that  looks  like  organizing  men. 
There  is  not  in  the  thought  or  conception  of  man  anything 
so  absurd  as  the  contrast  ^between  the  teaching  of  Christ  in 
respect  to  Christian  life,  and  the  enormous  and  pompous  or- 
ganization of  Christian  churches  which  pretend  to  have  de- 
rived their  authority  and  their  forms  from  him.  The 
question,  therefore,  is  one  of  very  profound  importance  : 
What  is  the  secret  of  the  power  of  this  Personage,  who  ap- 

SONIIAT  MORNING,    April   19.  1874.     LESSON:    Rom.   zb.       HYMNS  (Pljrmoutl 

CollecUon) :  NOB.  365,  668. 600. 


118  HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY. 

peared  so  many  hundred  years  ago,  who  was  not  the  master 
of  a  system,  who  did  not  organize  a  party,  or  a  sect,  or  a 
school,  and  who  wrote  nothing  ? 

It  was  the  simple  power  of  a  higher  type  of  manhood  than 
had  ever  been  known  in  the  world  before.  It  was  Divine 
manhood.  It  carried  with  it,  also,  by  inference,  the  deduc- 
tion that  there  was  more  power  in  the  simple  disclosure  of  a 
divine  life  than  in  any  other  source  whatsoever.  The  man- 
ifestation of  meekness,  and  gentleness,  and  sympathy,  and 
patience,  and  self-denial,  and  truthfulness,  and  lovableuess, 
and  lovingness,  and  such  manliness  as  lifts  the  personal  char- 
acter of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  above  all  that  ever  lived  on 
the  face  of  the  earth,  and  the  simple  exhibition  in  his  life  and 
teachings,  as  they  were  recorded  by  others,  of  the  truly  Divine 
disposition — these  have  been  the  secret  of  moral  power,  from 
that  day  to  this.  It  was  a  new  type  and  a  higher  type  of  a 
personal  manhood. 

And  that  is  not  all.  From  this  new  and  higher  type  of 
manhood,  symmetrized  and  disclosed  in  him,  is  derived,  or  is 
derivable,  a  higher  conception  of  God's  character,  since  the 
only  glass  through  which  we  can  get  a  true  view  of  God  is 
the  glass  of  human  experience.  Outside  of  possible  human 
experience  there  is  no  such  thing  as  knowing  God  in  his 
moral  attributes  or  dispositions.  Whatever,  therefore,  exalts 
any  single  trait  in  human  life  to  an  excellence  which  it 
had  not  before  makes  it  a  lens  through  which  new  revela- 
tions of  the  divinity  come  to  us  ;  and  where  all  the  qualities 
which  belong  to  human  nature  are  exalted  in  this  way,  where 
they  are  combined  in  symmetry,  and  where  they  harmoniously 
present  a  magnificent  character  such  as  the  world  never 
dreamed  of  nor  thought  possible,  through  that  comes  a 
mightier  revelation  of  the  true  inward  nature  of  God — and 
of  his  personal  dispositions. 

These  two  sources  of  power  stand  together  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  It  was  the  goodness  of  God  manifested  in  him 
by  his  personal  character  and  life  that  constituted  or  raised 
up  that  moral  influence  which  has  existed  in  spite  of  revolu- 
tions, which  has  uplifted  nations,  which  has  been  stronger 
than  the  sword,  which  has  been  more  powerful  than  the 


HINDBRINO   CHRISTIANITY.  119 

temptations  and  lures  of  pleasure  and  money,  which  has  ex- 
alted the  race,  and  which  is  still  exalting  it. 

Where,  however,  to-day,  is  the  real  force  of  Christianity 
in  the  world  ?  It  is  in  the  living  power  of  those  men  who 
have  accepted  this  Christ-like  life,  and  who  are  living  as 
Christ  lived.  The  foTce  of  Christianity  is  not  in  the  cathe- 
dral, nor  in  the  temple,  nor  in  the  synagogue,  nor  in  the 
church,  nor  in  organizations,  nor  in  denominations :  it  lies  in 
the. sum  of  men's  individual  excellences. 

I  do  not  deny  nor  undervalue  the  various  instruments 
which  the  Christian  life  employs.  I  would  not  be  understood 
as  setting  aside  the  church,  nor  those  various  associations 
which  cluster  around  about  it ;  but  I  regard  all  these  as  sim- 
ple machinery.  They  create  nothing.  Their  function  is  to 
express  that  which  can  be  developed  only  as  a  living  force 
from  the  human  heart.  They  have  been  made  largely  to  take 
the  place  of  personal  spontaneous  power.  Individuals  have 
been  absorbed  to  make  colorations  ;  and  the  great  gospel 
idea  of  divine  individuality  in  men  has  almost  been  lost  sight 
of  through  many  ages.  It  is  again  in  our  day  developing  in 
power  ;  but  there  yet  remains  in  all  Christian  denominations 
and  organizations  a  tendency,  springing  from  the  physical 
inclinations  r f  men,  to  build  Christianity  by  the  outside,  to 
make  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth  to  be  in  the  aggregate 
organizations  of  Christianity,  and  not  within  the  individual 
man.  The  church  is  but  a  body  ;  the  living  dispositions  of 
men  are  the  soul.  A  church  in  which  love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance, 
scarcely  exist  is  a  church  without  power,  no  matter  how 
many  are  its  members,  how  advanced  its  intelligence,  how 
wide  its  sphere  of  practical  labor,  its  charities  and  sensuous 
reformations  ;  for  without  love  these  all  are  but  as  sound- 
ing brass  and  tinkling  cymbals.  I  admit  that  organized 
churches  have  been  made  instrumental  of  great  good  from 
time  to  time  in  ages  past ;  and  yet,  organized  Christianity 
has  been  the  poorest  part  of  Christianity  in  this  world. 
If  there  had  been  no  other  power  in  the  world  than  that 
which  has  been  exerted  by  organized  churches,  religion  would 
have  sunk  long  ago.  It  has  not  been  the  church  that  has 


120  HINDERING   CHRISTIANITY. 

preserved  religion  :  it  has  been  religion  that  has  preserved 
the  church.  It  has  not  been  the  priesthood  that  have  saved 
the  laity  or  the  people :  it  has  been  the  humble  and  Christ- 
like  lives  of  obscure  persons  among  the  laity  that  have  saved 
the  priesthood.  As  in  the  case  of  Christ  the  power  lay,  not 
in  any  outward  organization,  not  in  any  systematic  presenta- 
tion of  doctrine,  but  in  the  living  force  of  a  holy  nature,  so 
the  power  of  Christianity  has  been  in  the  development  of  its 
sweet  qualities  in  so  many  private  persons,  and  not  in  mere 
church  organizations. 

For,  national  churches  and  hierarchal  churches  have 
given  to  the  world  vast  corporeities  with  feeble  spiritual 
life.  Churches  have  been  like  caves.  In  limestone  realms, 
there  are  vast  caves  where  everything  is  quiet,  as  people  waiit 
them  to  be  in  the  church  ;  where  the  temperature  never 
varies  much  from  40°,  as  people  do  not  want  it  to  vary  in  the 
church  ;  where  everything  is  formulated,  as  people  want 
things  to  be  formulated  in  the  church ;  where  from  the  roof 
there  is  the  white  stalactite,  root  up,  always  growing  down  ; 
and  where  at  the  bottom  is  the  stalagmite,  growing  up,  by 
petrifaction.  Into  one  of  these  caves  conies  a  man  witli  a 
torch,  who  walks  through ;  and  instantly  all  that  there  is  in 
the  cave  becomes  bright  and  beautiful.  In  what  ?  In  itself  ? 
No ;  in  the  light  of  that  man's  torch. 

And  there  are  churches  running  down  through  the  ages, 
with  their  Cardinals,  and  Archbishops,  and  Bishops  ;  with 
their  different  orders  of  priesthood  ;  with  their  eminent  men  ; 
with  their  saints.  Great  cavernous  bodies  they  are,  full  of  all 
manner  of  things  dripping  from  the  roof,  and  springing  from 
the  ground,  hard  and  white  as  limestone  stalactites  and  stalag- 
mites ;  and  now  and  then  one  holy  woman  or  one  great-souled 
man  throws  light  over  them  all,  and  makes  them  resplendent. 
They  are  rendered  romantic,  attractive,  beautiful,  by  some  in- 
dividual, or  some  collection  of  individuals,  who  have  been 
giving  forth  the  light  of  a  true  Christian  disposition. 

Why,  then,  has  Christianity  made,  comparatively,  so  little 
advance  in  the  world  ?  After  nearly  two  thousand  years,  what 
is  the  condition  of  Africa  ?  What  is  the  condition  of  Asia  ? 
What  is  the  condition  of  the  continent  of  North  and  South 


HINDERING   CHRISTIANITY.  121 

America  ?  What  is  the  condition  even  of  Christendom : 
[jook  over  the  world,  and  take  in  a  general  view  of  the  con- 
ditions of  nations,  after  two  thousand  years  of  Christianity, 
and  where  are  they  to-day  ?  There  has  been  a  great  deal 
ilone  ;  but  compared  with  what  was  to  be  done,  how  very  little 
1 1  as  been  accomplished ;  and  how  very  slow  has  been  its  ac- 
complishment !  Why  has  it  been  so  slow  ? 

We  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  development  of  Chris- 
tianity is  not  simply  the  diffusion  of  a  knowledge  of  its  his- 
tory, nor  of  its  organizations,  nor  of  its  ordinances,  worship, 
or  ecclesiastical  polity.  These  are  mere  implements.  The 
spread  of  Christianity  can  mean  nothing  else  than  the  devel- 
opment of  the  fruits  of  the  spirit  in  the  human  soul.  It  is  the 
lifting  of  mankind  into  the  higher  realm  of  moral  experiences. 
It  is  the  generation  of  spiritual  forces  in  individual  souls. 

We  are  to  look,  therefore,  for  the  spread  of  love,  joy, 
peace,  longsuffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness, 
temperance.  Where  these  exist  in  supreme  power,  there  is 
Christianity.  Where  these  are  wanting,  though  all  the  pomp 
of  ceremonial  and  of  stringent  ecclesiastical  organization  be 
present,  there  is  but  the  outward  form,  and  not  the  substance 
of  Christianity.  So  that,  in  discussing  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity, it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  we  mean  the  develop- 
ment and  power  of  these  Christian  graces  in  the  human  soul. 
How  far  have  they  become  dominant  in  the  world  ?  Why 
have  they  been  so  slow  in  development,  and  of  such  limited 
scope,  and  almost  unrecognized  value  ? 

Well,  first,  they  who  have  set  forward  Christianity  in  this 
world  adopted  a  coercive  conscience,  and  assumed  authority 
over  men  in  God's  name,  attempting  in  religion  what  was  at- 
tempted in  politics — namely,  the  government  of  men  without 
their  consent,  and  according  to  a  rule.  We  have  now  learned 
that  freedom  is  the  safest  in  the  state,  and  that  despotism, 
however  handy  it  may  be,  makes  poor  men.  It  may  make 
easy  government,  but  it  makes  inferior  citizens.  Liberty,  on 
the  other  hand,  however  many  leaks  it  may  have,  and  how- 
ever many  storms  there  may  be  in  it,  after  all,  in  the  long 
run,  makes  strong  citizens  and  multiplies  the  resources  and 
increases  the  strength  of  the  state. 


122  HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY. 

Now,  liberty  is  just  as  necessary  in  the  church  as  it  is  in 
the  state  and  in  civil  affairs.  No  man,  because  he  is  ordained 
to  preach,  has  any  authority  over  anybody.  No  church  has 
any  right  to  usurp  authority  over  men's  consciences  and 
judgments.  A  church  that  does  this  in  the  name  of  God 
is  just  as  monstrous  and  detestable  as  any  government  upon 
earth  that  usurps  absolute  authority  over  its  subjects.  If  re- 
ligion is  to  be  anything,  it  is  to  be  spontaneous  ;  it'is  to  be  the 
free  offering  of  free  souls.  The  moment  you  permit  the 
church  to  say,  "  We  have  the  light ;  our  conscience  being 
instructed  is  lord  of  your  conscience,"  you  interfere  with  men's 
religious  freedom.  It  is  thought  to  be  a  very  grave  offense 
when  an  individual  man  says  to  another,  "  You  be  damned  ;" 
but  put  a  black  robe  on  a  man,  put  a  split  cap  on  his  head, 
and  put  a  long  staff  with  a  quirl  on  the  end  of  it  in  his  hand, 
and  let  him  say,  "  Believe  in  transubstantiation  or  be 
damned,"  and  it  is  thought  entirely  correct.  Now,  I  do  not 
think  cursing  under  such  circumstances  is  any  better  than 
when  a  private  man  uses  it  in  his  own  affairs.  In  either  case, 
it  is  vulgar,  and  to  be  disallowed — and  all  the  more  as  you 
go  up  ;  for  an  official  curse  is  a  great  deal  worse  than  a  per- 
sonal one. 

You  cannot  develop  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit, — love,  joy. 
peace, — by  coercive  influences.  I  should  like  to  see  anybody 
go  now  with  cannon  and  sword  to  my  side-hill  at  Peekskill, 
where  I  have  a  good  deal  of  grass  which  is  reluctant  to 
come  up,  and  make  it  grow.  I  should  like  to  see  a  fire- 
engine  pump  it  up.  I  should  like  to  see  a  magistrate  with  a 
search-warrant  bring  it  up.  Nobody  can  make  it  grow.  It 
must  grow  itself  if  it  grows  at  all.  All  that  can  be  done  is  to 
make  the  temperature  more  favorable  ;  and  that  comes  with 
the  revolving  sun.  When  the  atmosphere  is  warm,  then  it  will 
grow.  You  may  help  it ;  you  may  nourish  it ;  by  collateral  in- 
fluences you  may  facilitate  its  growth,  but  you  have  no  power 
to  make  it  grow  independent  of  the  warmth  of  the  sun.  No 
man  can  go  with  a  crowbar,  and  put  it  under  a  tree,  and  say, 
"Grow  !"  and  make  it  obey.  It  will  not  grow  because  you 
command  it  to.  Nobody  can  say  to  a  tree,  "  Blossom  1 "  and 
be  obeyed.  It  will  not  blossom  because  you  tell  it  to. 


HINDERING   CHRISTIAN   TY.  1JJ3 

And  if  you  cannot  exercise  authority  over  these  physical 
qualities,  or  attributes,  or  elements,  how  much  less  can  you 
exercise  authority  over  the  quality  of  love  !  Can  you  cause  love 
to  spring  forth  at  your  will  ?  Can  you  go  to  another,  and 
say,  "  Love  me  !"  and  secure  obedience  to  that  imperious  com- 
mand ?  No,  not  any  more  than  you  can  be  lovely  and  avoid 
being  loved.  If  you  say  to  a  person,  "Be  joyful  1"  will  h 
be  joyful  because  you  have  commanded  him  to  be  so?  When 
men  are  bent  down  with  sorrow  like  willows ;  when  they  are 
clothed  with  tears,  as  after  rains  trees  are,  so  that  every  mo- 
tion shakes  them  down,  can  they  obey  your  command  to  be 
joyful  ?  Can  you  go  forth  and  say  to  men,  "  Have  peace  !" 
and  make  them  peaceful  ?  There  was  a  Voice  once  that  could 
hush  the  storms ;  but  has  man  that  power  ?  Can  man  say  to 
the  stormy  heart  in  the  anguish  of  bereavement  or  fear  01 
remorse,  "  Peace,  be  still,"  and  be  obeyed  ? 

The  qualities  to  be  developed  in  the  world  are  love,  joy, 
peace,  longsuffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness, 
temperance  ;  and  how  are  you  to  develop  them  ?  Not  by  ar- 
rogance of  conscience.  There  must  be  spontaneity  or  there 
will  be  nothing.  All  arrogation,  therefore,  of  authority 
over  men  is  a  wicked  assumption,  not  derivable  from  the 
Word  of  God,  and  in  its  experience  constantly  showing  itself 
to  be  of  the  earth,  earthy.  "  To  his  own  Master  every  man 
stands  or  falls,"  says  the  apostle.  " Everyman  shall  give  ac- 
count of  himself  to  God.  Who  art  thou,  then,  that  judgest 
another  man's  servant  ?  "  Take  care  of  your  own  individual 
excellence,  but  never  attempt  to  lay  the  law  of  your  con- 
science authoritatively  upon  men,  either  in  your  individua1 
capacity,  or  in  your  associated  or  official  relations. 

This  going  forth  of  Christianity,  not  as  a  sweet,  wooing 
influence,  shining  on  men  like  the  sun  of  a  May  morning, 
but  armed  as  a  warrior,  marching  to  the  music  of  the  fife 
and  the  beat  of  the  drum,  and  "  breathing  out  threatenings 
and  slaughter, "  is  not  going  to  spread  the  graces  of  the 
Spirit.  Its  effect  is  rather  to  tread  them  under  foot.  Any 
apparent  spread  of  Christianity  under  such  circumstances 
is  nominal  and  superficial — not  real  and  vitaL  We  have  had 
an  immense  diffusion  of  Christianity;  and  it  has  been  like 


124  HINDERING    CHRISTIANITY. 

gold-leaf,  spread  thin  ;  and  it  has  grown  thinner  and  thinner. 
What  we  need  more  than  anything  else,  to-day,  is  vertical 
Christianity,  which  goes  deeper,  and  takes  hold  more  pro- 
foundly of  affection,  as  a  master-quality  in  each  individual 
soul. 

Secondly,  the  introduction  of  the  malign  element  as  a 
moral  force,  by  which  it  has  been  attempted  to  extend  Chris- 
tianity, has  been  another  capital  offense  and  another  reason 
why  so  little  progress  has  been  made  in  spreading  the  Gospel. 
When  Paul  in  a  reminiscence  of  his  labor  among  the  Corin- 
thians gives  some  account  of  himself,  he  speaks  as  if  he  had 
paused  on  going  into  Corinth.  Naturally  he  must  have  done  so; 
he  must  have  said  to  himself,  "Here  am  I,  a  wandering  Jew, 
going  to  the  most  dissolute,  the  richest  and  the  most  elegant 
city  of  Greece;  a  city  world-renowned  for  pleasure;  a  city  full 
of  sophists,  full  of  philosophers;  full  of  men  of  science  and 
literature;  and  now,  how  shall  I  start  this  new  religion 
there?"  "Well,  I  determined,"  said  he,  "not  to  know 
anything  among  you  as  a  source  of  moral  power  except 
Christ, — and  Him  crucified.  I  determined  to  disclose  to  you 
a  moral  phenomenon — namely,  that  the  innate  disposition  of 
God  is  manifested  in  this:  that  he  sent  down  into  the  world 
his  Son,  who  took  upon  himself  the  human  form,  and  sub- 
jected himself  to  human  law,  and  was  willing  to  suffer,  and 
to  suffer  in  the  lowest  and  most  ignominious  way,  for  the 
sake  of  giving  his  life  a  ransom  for  many.  I  determined  to 
rely,  for  the  secret  of  my  power,  upon  this  fact  and  the 
moral  qualities  which  grow  out  of  it,  as  naturally  related  to 
human  sensibility." 

Now,  in  the  propagation  of  Christianity  in  the  world  since 
Paul's  day,  has  that  been  continued  as  the  secret  of  power  ? 
Of  course,  in  many  cases,  largely  it  has  been  ;  but  go  back 
and  read  of  the  actions  of  the  church.  Follow  the  line  of 
controversial  theology.  I  knew  a  young  man  in  Amherst 
College,  when  I  was  a  student  there,  who  read  Mosheim's 
Ecclesiastical  History.  When  he  began  he  thought  he  was  a 
Christian,  but  when  he  got  through  he  was  an  infidel.  There 
were  in  the  history  of  the  church,  as  it  came  down  step  by 
step,  such  monstrous  discords,  such  bitter  quarrels,  such 


HINDERING   CHRISTIANITY.  ]25 

dreadful  conflicts,  such  outrageous  cruelties,  such  evils,  hide- 
ous, heinous,  and  immeasurable,  that  he  did  not  believe  there 
was  any  divine  beneficent  providence  in  it.  He  felt  that  if 
there  was  any  such  providence,  it  would  certainly  be  one  that 
would  watch  over  a  church  instituted  of  God  and  bearing  the 
name  of  Christ. 

If  you  examine  the  efforts  that  have  been  made  to  spread, 
to  define,  to  defend  and  to  exalt  Christianity,  you  shall  find 
that  they  have  been  largely  directed  to  the  construction  of  out- 
ward organizations,  to  the  elucidation  of  dogmatic  creeds, 
and  to  the  establishment  of  spiritual  despotisms.  If  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth  is  love,  joy,  peace,  longsuffering, 
gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance,  how  can 
these  be  spread  and  intensified  by  the  reason  acting  under  the 
influence  of  selfishness,  of  pride,  of  vanity,  and  still  less  of 
fierce  rivalries,  suspicions  and  bitter  hatreds  ?  For  the  sake 
of  religion,  for  the  sake  of  the  church,  for  the  honor  of  God 
among  men,  it  has  been  thought  excusable  for  zeal  to  become 
a  fire.  Men  have  advocated  and  propagated  an  external 
Christianity  by  the  sacrifice  of  every  one  of  its  internal  attri- 
butes. The  church  for  ages  has  been  its  tomb.  The  spirit  of 
Christ  has  been  obliged  to  wander  up  and  down  in  a  desert 
place,  like  the  worthies  recounted  in  the  eleventh  of  Hebrews. 
And  although  in  every  age  since  the  ascension  of  our  Saviour, 
and  in  every  church,  there  have  been  found  sweet  and  glori- 
ous natures  that  kept  alive  in  the  memory  of  the  world 
the  true  nature  of  Christianity,  many  heroic  tasks,  many 
saintly  endurances,  yet  it  is  undeniable  that  the  Christianity 
of  whole  ages  has  been  impelled  by  the  malign  forces  of  hu- 
man nature  ;  and  that  neither  in  the  realm  of  Mammon,  nor 
in  the  strife  of  camps,  nor  in  the  fevers  of  political  ambition, 
have  there  been  more  carnal,  self-seeking,  arrogant  and  des- 
picable influences,  than  have  been  found  in  the  propagation 
of  Christianity. 

Now,  how  can  you  develop  love  by  hatred  ?  How 
can  you  develop  peace  by  controversy  ?  The  fruits  of  the 
Spirit  are  love,  joy,  peace,  longsuffering,  gentleness,  etc.  ; 
and  how  can  you  develop  these  by  quarreling,  misrepre- 
sentation, and  annoying  and  vexatious  criticism  ?  The 


IJiC  HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY 

gates  of  hell  have  often  opened  into  this  world  out  of  ec- 
clesiastical judicatories.  Under  the  name  of  Christianity 
missionaries  have  been  sent  to  the  heathen,  among  whom 
were  known  no  such  abominable  cruelties  as  were  practised 
by  those  who  sent  them  ;  and  we  have  not  yet  got  over 
the  tendency  which  has  so  long  existed,  to  enforce  Chris- 
tianity by  malign  processes.  There  is  still  an  attempt  t( 
introduce  into  theology  those  fiery  animal  passions  which 
come  lurid  from  the  lower  realms.  And  this  whole  Roman, 
Tuscan  disposition  to  fill  Christianity  with  monarchic  and 
basilar  elements  has  been  fatal,  as  overthrowing  Christianity 
in  its  very  type  and  genius.  Christianity  began  by  the  dis- 
closure to  the  world  of  peace  and  good  will  to  men  ;  have  the 
persecutions,  and  torments,  and  exclusions,  and  wanderings 
of  Christian  men  in  the  woods  and  in  the  deserts,  and  their 
hidings  in  caves,  and  their  sorrows  of  soul,  been  the  fit  fol- 
lowing of  such  a  prelude  ?  Has  he  who  came  on  earth  to  die, 
and  to  tell  men  that  God  was  such  an  one  that  he  would  not 
willingly  let  men  perish,  been  properly  preached,  when  Jeho- 
vah has  been  represented  as  a  hideous,  bloody-mouthed  being 
who  makes  men  to  devour  them  ?  The  iron  doctrines  of 
sects ;  the  machines  of  faith  and  practice  into  which  men 
have  been  thrown,  and  by  which  they  have  been  ground  to 
powder,  in  order  to  make  the  church  greater  than  its  mem- 
bers, and  more  important  than  the  souls  of  mankind  ;  and 
the  ambitions,  the  hatreds,  the  fears,  the  passions  that  are 
engendered  in  vast  ecclesiastical  organizations— are  these  the 
instruments  by  which  to  introduce  the  kingdom  of  joy  and 
love  and  peace  ?  'Do  you  wonder  that  the  Gospel  has  not 
spread  more,  under  such  circumstances  ? 

Suppose  I  were  to  say,  The  spirit  of  the  garden  is  roses 
and  mignonette  and  violets ;  and  suppose,  straightway,  I 
should  go  among  the  northern  icebergs,  during  the  fiercest 
months  of  the  year,  and  attempt  to  plant  these  flowers  amidst 
frost  and  ice  and  snow,  and  should  wonder  why  it  was  that 
roses,  and  mignonette,  and  violets,  and  all  manner  of  flowers 
did  not  seem  to  thrive  there  ?  But  tell  me  how  they  can 
thrive  under  such  circumstances,  where  there  is  a  frost  that 
hates,  that  pierces,  that  eats  up  and  derours  ?  And  suppose 


HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY.  127 

I  should  make  some  little  temporary  structure  over  them  in 
which  every  particle  of  heat  was  absorbed  by  the  cold,  would 
it  be  a  marvel  that  they  did  not  grow  ?  And  is  it  any  greater 
marvel  that  Christianity  has  not  grown  more  in  the  organiza- 
tions which  have  been  built  over  it  ?  WLy,  the  church  dom- 
inant in  the  world  has  for  whole  ages  been  simply  monstrous. 
There  have  been  no  excesses  more  criticisable,  and  no  terrors 
more  abominable,  than  have  existed  under  the  auspices  of  the 
church.  If  you  take  Christianity  comprehensively,  it  has  not 
been  made  known  to  the  world  as  a  personal  moral  quality. 
When  Christianity  is  spoken  of  to  men,  that  which  they  think 
of  is  the  Church  ;  it  is  the  Book  ;  it  is  the  Ministry  ;  it  is  the 
Organization  ;  and  these,  through  long  periods,  have  been 
made  use  of  by  men  frequently  under  the  influence  not  only 
of  carnal  but  of  infernal  passions ;  so  that  under  the  name 
of  Christianity  the  kingdom  of  the  devil  has  been  propa- 
gated through  the  world  ;  and  from  iron  scepters  has  come 
corroding  rust.  Joy,  peace,  love,  longsuffering,  meekness, 
and  gentleness — these  have  not  been  the  fruits  that  have  been 
spread,  nor  the  seeds  that  have  been  planted,  for  the  most 
part,  by  what  are  called  Christian  organizations. 

Thirdly,  the  progress  of  Christianity  has  been  delayed  01 
prevented  because  it  has  aimed  at  knowledge  and  not  charity. 
Paul  says,  "Knowledge  puffeth  up;  charity  edifieth."  By 
"charity"  of  course  he  means  that  benign,  central  spirit  of 
love  which  is  mother  and  nurse  to  every  other  good  quality  in 
the  soul.  The  exact  meaning  does  not  appear  in  our  trans- 
lation, because  "puffeth  up"  calls  attention  to  the  process 
rather  than  the  result. 

Have  you  ever  seen  a  boy  blow  up  a  bladder  ?  It  has  not 
grown — it  is  puffed  up.  It  has  become  big,  but  it  is  filled 
with  wind,  as  a  pin  will  demonstrate. 

Now,  the  apostle  says,  that  knowledge  blows  a  man  up, 
and  makes  him  look  big,  so  that  he  seems  to  himself  to  be 
large.  Love  is  the  only  thing  that  builds  him  up.  The  one 
swells  him  out  so  that  he  appears  greater  than  he  really  is. 
The  other  developes  him  by  actual  increase.  The  one  bloats, 
and  the  other  builds.  The  apostle's  declaration  is,  that  the 
mere  realm  of  ideas,  the  simple  sphere  of  knowledge,  tends 


128  HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY. 

to  produce  among  men  immense  inflation,  and  a  sense  ol 
importance ;  while  love,  the  essential  spirit  of  Christ,  is 
the  thing  which  augments  men,  enlarges  them,  strengthens 
them,  with  foundations  downward,  and  a  superstructure  up- 
ward. 

But  consider  what  theology  has  attempted  to  do,  as  if  it 
were  a  part  of  Christianity.  It  has  attempted,  in  the  most 
minute  manner,  to  unfold  the  whole  theory  of  the  Divine  na- 
ture. It  was  not  in  the  possibility  of  past  ages  to  do  this. 
Neither  is  it  in  the  possibility  of  the  present  age  to  do  it.  Our 
knowledge  of  God  is  simply  human  knowledge  transformed, 
reconstructed  by  the  imagination  and  the  reason.  You  can- 
not have  a  conception,  outside  of  your  own  personal  con- 
sciousness, that  constitutes  anything  like  a  rational  view  of  the 
divine  nature.  When  we  take  into  consideration  how  little 
knowledge  we  have  respecting  ourselves,  we  begin  to  feel 
how  vague  must  be  the  notions  which  we  have  of  God.  We 
take  the  history  of  those  who  have  lived  in  the  world  ; 
the  philosophies  which  have  prevailed  among  men  ;  the 
types  of  governments,  of  courts,  and  of  law,  which  have 
existed  in  the  world,  which  are  artificial,  and  which  are 
of  men's  weakness  and  not  of  their  strength  ;  and  out  of 
these  we  have  constructed  our  conception  of  the  divine 
moral  government.  And  this  has  been  built  up  with  mag- 
nitude, a  marvel  of  minuteness,  and  a  marvel  of  skill ;  but 
the  larger  it  is,  and  the  more  it  is  specialized,  the  more  it  is 
a  sign  of  artificiality,  and  not  of  true  knowledge. 

Consider  how  little  men  have  known  about  governing 
men,  and  how  little  they  have  known  about  transferring 
human  experience  or  human  ideas  to  the  divine  moral  gov- 
ernment. We  have  had  in  theology  methods  of  government 
taught  as  if  instituted  by  God  which  now  any  rational  civil- 
ized society  would  vomit  out  with  abhorrence.  We  stand  still 
in  church  creeds  and  symbols  and  beliefs.  How  little  we 
know  of  the  past,  and  of  what  is  to  come,  and  yet,  how 
vast  is  the  amount  of  that  which  is  taught,  as  if  we  knew 
it  I  How  little  we  know  of  what  may  be  called  human 
knowledge,  and  yet,  how  much  less  do  we  know  of  regu- 
lating men's  lives  •  of  taking  care  of  their  experience  ;  of 


HINDEllING   CHRISTIANITY.  129 

enlightening  their  judgment ;  of  removing  their  doubts ;  of 
inspiring  their  hope  ;  of  doing  all  those  things  which  are  in- 
cluded in  theology  1 

And  that  is  not  the  worst  of  it.  It  is  not  merely  the  great 
error  which  there  has  been  by  reason  of  this  specializing  of 
Christian  truth  that  is  to  be  condemned  :  the  capital  offense 
of  churches  has  consisted  in  turning  that  which  is  an  emo- 
tion into  an  idea,  and  then  teaching  the  world  that  that  idea 
is  a  sacred  thing.  They  have  eatirely  carried  out  of  its 
proper  sphere  the  real  Christianity,  which  is  a  living  personal 
experience,  and  put  it  into  a  philosophical  system  ;  and  they 
have  made  that  system  an  arbitrary  and  absolute  judge  and 
condemner  of  men. 

To-day  the  whole  Christian  world  is  up  in  arms.  Wny  ? 
Because  members  of  the  church  live  such  worldly  lives  ?  Oh 
no,  not  if  they  behave  well  in  ecclesiastical  matters ;  not  if 
they  observe  all  the  proper  days,  and  pay  their  pew-rents,  and 
take  good  care  of  their  minister.  What  is  it  that  the  Chris- 
tian world  is  up  in  arms  about  ?  About  forms,  and  cere- 
monies and  usages. 

It  is,  thank  God,  true  that  in  the  Eoman  Church,  in  the 
Episcopal  Church,  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  all  the  sects 
of  Christendom,  there  are  multitudes  of  men  who,  by  godly 
lives,  sweet  dispositions,  and  simple  teaching,  are  laboring 
to  promote  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  is  true  that  vast  efforts 
are  made  by  each  and  by  all  of  the  sects  to  spread  abroad  the 
historical  knowledge  of  Christianity ;  but  for  the  most  part 
the  sects  are  so  cumbered  with  the  machinery  of  the  church 
that  the  strength  of  its  servants  is  wasted  in  taking  care  of 
the  external. 

The  Roman  Church  is  all  astir  ;  but  it  is  for  the  temponil 
possessions  of  the  Pope  ;  it  is  for  the  doctrine  of  the  immacu- 
late conception  of  Mary  ;  it  is  for  its  external  relations  an- 1 
rights  in  the  State  ;  for  its  articles,  usages,  traditions,  creeds, 
jurisdiction,  offices  and  officers.  The  energy  of  thousands  of 
noble  brains  is  expended  in  the  control  of  the  external  ma- 
chinery. 

The  Church  of  England  is  rent  in  twain,  and  each  moiety 
is  rent  again  ;  but  the  strife  is  not  for  holiness.  The  concern 


130  HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY. 

is  not  that  men  are  carnal,  that  pride  and  selfishness  are  the 
mightiest  motives  in  human  life,  that  love  languishes,  that 
gentleness  is  rare  and  occasional,  and  that  the  beauty  of  holi- 
ness is  almost  unknown.  The  force  of  genius,  the  treasures 
of  scholarship,  organized  zeal,  and  all  the  resources  of  acute 
and  elaborate  controversy,  are  occupied  with  things  abso- 
lutely external,  instrumental,  subsidiary.  They  are  quarrel- 
i  ug  as  in  Jerusalem  the  Greeks  and  Latins  quarrel  over  the 
empty  tomb  of  Christ.  The  High  Church  mourns  that  it  is 
not  worthy  to  touch  the  hem  of  the  garment  of  Rome.  The 
Evangelicals,  intense,  acerb,  narrow,  make  orthodoxy  un- 
lovely. The  Broad  Church,  clinging  to  institutions  whose 
absolute  apostolic  authority  they  deny,  retain  their  place,  in 
the  hope  of  rationalizing  Christianity,  and  promoting  the 
graces  of  the  spirit,  by  the  force  of  purely  intellectual  ideas. 

Nor,  if  we  look  within  the  Episcopal  Church  in  America 
are  matters  mended.  The  organization  is  divided  against 
itself.  It  is  doubtful  whether  more  life-force  is  not  expended 
in  the  maintenance  of  the  external  institutions  of  the  church 
than  in  the  development  of  Christian  grace  in  the  souls  of 
men.  It  expends  a  vast  amount  of  zeal  in  demarking  itself 
from  every  other  sect ;  in  ranging  and  ranking  its  ministry  ; 
in  binding  them  to  minute  and  particular  observances ;  in 
establishing  ecclesiastical  uniformity.  Routine  it  calls  order, 
and  repetition,  uniformity.  The  most  glorious  of  all  gifts  of 
God  to  men,  the  living  force  of  heart  liberty,  the  spontaneous 
overflow  of  personal  experience,  is  little  trusted,  but  much 
suspected  and  feared. 

How  is  it  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  ?  Ask  Professor 
Swing,  who  is  on  trial  for  some  petty  variation  in  doctrir.e. 
Ask  Mr.  Craig  of  Chicago,  who  is  on  trial  in  California,  I 
believe,  where  I  think  his  Presbytery  is,  on  account  of  some 
looseness  of  view  about  inspiration  ?  How  is  it  in  regard  to 
our  brother  Hyatt  Smith,  who  is  on  trial  before  his  Baptist 
brethren  on  account  of  communion  and  the  necessity  of  bap- 
tism by  immersion  to  membership  ?  And  on  what  ground 
are  they  arraigned  ?  On  the  ground  of  want  of  faibli  ?  of  lack 
of  love  ?  of  being  destitute  of  meekness  and  gentleness  F 
No,  no  ! 


HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY.  131 

People  have  ideas  which  are  peculiar  to  themselves  or  to 
the  class  to  which  they  belong  ;  and  they  organize  themselves 
about  these  ideas  as  forces  of  Christianity,  and  convert  them 
into  a  system,  and  make  them  despotic,  and  attempt  to 
govern  the  world  with  them  as  with  a  rod  of  iron  ;  and  is  it 
at  all  strange  that  Christianity  has  lingered,  that  it  has  been 
perverted,  and  that  it  has  been  carried  away  into  Babylon  ? 

Christianity  does  not  lie  in  philosophical  speculation  and 
subtle  niceties.  It  was  in  the  God-life  in  Jesus  Christ  that 
the  power  of  Christianity  lay,  in  former  times;  and  it  is  in 
living  human  holiness  that  it  still  lies. 

This  leads  me,  fourthly,  to  the  next  consideration — namely, 
that  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  has  been  hindered  because  organic 
Christianity  has  been  put  in  the  place  of  personal  Chris- 
tianity. It  has  been  thought  necessary,  in  order  to  save  the 
life  of  Christianity  in  the  world,  that  churches  should  be 
organized.  Well,  my  dearly  beloved  Christian  brethren,  I 
too  believe  that  churches  should  be  organized.  Not  only 
that,  I  believe  that  they  will  be  organized.  If  all  the  force 
that  is  now  exerted  to  organize  them  were  exerted  against 
their  being  formed,  they  would  be  organized  nevertheless ; 
— not  because  Christ  said  they  must  be  founded,  but  be- 
cause God  made  men  as  he  did.  Organization  springs  out  of 
the  inherent  necessities  of  men.  It  is  natural  that  those  who 
are  seeking  a  common  end  should  seek  it  by  common  help 
through  the  social  element.  Art  organizes  itself  ;  education 
organizes  itself;  philosophy  organizes  itself;  commerce  organ- 
izes itself;  industries  of  every  kind — mining,  smelting,  man- 
ufacturing, and  what  not — organize  themselves.  We  need 
no  laws,  we  need  no  divine  authority,  we  need  no  legislation 
of  any  sort,  to  make  men  unite  in  organizations  for  the  pur- 
pose of  accomplishing  the  various  objects  of  life.  They  do 
it  of  themselves.  It  is  necessary  and  inevitable. 

Since,  then,  all  society  is  organized,  and  is  developing  its 
life  and  its  resources  through  organizations,  since  the  prin- 
oiple  of  organization  is  the  necessary,  indispensable  element, 
by  which  the  ordinary  affairs  of  men  are  inevitably  and  al- 
ways carried  on,  why  such  a  pother  about  the  organization 
of  the  church,  as  though  that  were  an  exception,  to  everything 


132  HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY 

else  in  creation?  It  is  inevitable  in  the  nature  of  things  that 
churches  will  organize  themselves.  The  sunlight  draws  up 
trees  into  infinite  branches,  each  one  seeking  the  shape  in- 
herent in  itself.  If  Congress  should  interfere,  and  appoint 
the  shapes  proper,  and  send  men  forth  to  clip  and  prune, 
that  all  the  various  forests  should  come  to  uniformity,  the 
pine,  the  spruce,  the  oak,  the  beech,  the  birch,  the  ash,  all  be 
forced  into  one  shape  and  habit,  it  would  be  scarcely  more 
wide  of  nature  and  truth  than  the  efforts  of  men  to  derive 
from  the  apostles  a  definite  system  of  church  organization, 
and  to  attempt  to  persuade  or  coerce  all  Christians  into  pre- 
composed  forms  and  governments.  Moral  Life  Force  will 
develop  a  body  to  suit  itself  I 

But  what  comes  to  pass  ?  What  has  come  to  pass  ?  This : 
that  instead  of  the  grandeur  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the 
individual,  instead  of  the  power  of  sweetness  and  beauty 
which  comes  from  the  disclosure  of  a  Christ-like  life  in  each 
particular  person,  there  has  been  an  artificial  organic  body. 
And  when  Christianity  is  preached,  people  look  at  churches, 
and  not  at  individuals ;  or,  they  look  at  individuals  as  mem- 
bers of  churches.  The  moment  a  man  is  taught  that  he 
should  live  a  Christ-like  life,  he  begins  to  think  whether  or 
not  he  is  fit  to  join  a  church.  Reverence  for  churches,  for 
organizations,-  has  almost  destroyed  the  living  force  of 
individualism.  Individuals  are  grander  than  churches. 
Churches  are  only  jewel-cases  ;  men  are  the  jewels. 

My  idea  of  a  true  church  organization  is  this  :  that  it  is  a 
union  in  which  every  man  is  joined  to  his  fellow-men  by  elec- 
tive affinity,  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  by  the 
social  influence  of  like  souls.  Every  man  is  to  bring  forth 
the  fruit  of  the  Spirit — love,  joy,  peace,  longsuffering,  gen- 
tleness, goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance.  These  are 
the  elements  around  about  which  the  church  is  to  be  built 
up ;  and  where  these  are  the  center  of  the  church,  the  out- 
ward form  will  take  care  of  itself. 

Now,  persons  say  to  me,  "If  you  hold  more  liberal  views 
than  those  who  belong  to  the  old  Puritan  Congregational 
churches,  why  do  not  you  go  out  of  them  ? "  Because  1 
have  a  right  to  stay  in.  It  is  more  important  that  there 


HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY.  133 

should  be  liberty  in  the  churches  than  that  men  should  seek 
liberty  by  abandoning  their  birth-right.  A  man  is  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  is  preaching  Christ,  and  love, 
and  self-sacrifice,  and  industry,  and  purity,  and  heavenlike- 
ness  ;  but  then,  he  is  preaching  them  without  an  absolute 
belief  in  the  endlessness  of  punishment ;  and  people  say  to 
him,  "  Why  do  you  not  join  the  Universalist  Church  ?"  In 
other  words,  the  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  souls  of 
men  is  not  considered  as  enough  to  make  one  orthodox.  The 
interior  life  of  a  man  is  regarded  as  inferior  to  organization, 
and  to  schedules  of  doctrine.  But  the  true  conception  of  a 
church  organization  is  one  in  which  men  shall  be  like  Christ, 
and  in  which,  being  like  Christ,  they  shall  be  free — free  to 
think,  free  to  speak,  and  free  to  act. 

It  is  a  thousand  times  more  important  that  young  Mr. 
Tyng  should  stand  in  the  pulpit  of  the  Episcopal  Church  and 
preach  the  truths  of  Christ  as  he  feels  that  he  is  divinely 
ordained  to  preach  them,  than  that  he  should  renounce  his 
fellowship  with  that  church  because  he  does  not  feel  called 
upon  to  submit  to  all  of  its  restrictions.  It  is  infinitely  better 
that  he  should  stand  in  that  church  until  he  has  demon- 
strated that  it  permits  the  liberty  which  he  claims,  than 
that  he  should  go  out  of  it  and  found  a  new  sect.  It  is 
better  that  men  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  who  hold  a  differ- 
ent and  a  larger  view  than  is  held  by  that  church  itself 
should  stay  where  they  are,  and  prove  that  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  grants  the  freedom  which  they  assert  their  right  to  ex- 
ercise, than  that  they  should  form  a  little  pocket  sect  some 
where  else.  Sects  are  good  in  their  place  ;  but  what  we  need 
is  not  so  much  more  sects  as  that  the  sects  which  we  have 
should  be  more  Christian,  and  that  those  who  are  in  them 
should  utter  the  truth,  and  stand  up  for  it,  and  suffer  for  it, 
and  earn  the  right  to  be  ca\led  Christians.  "What  we  need  is 
more  sects  in  which  a  man  shall  have  the  right  to  think  as 
God  inspires  him  to  think,  and  to  speak  as  God  moves  him  to 
speak.  Such  rights  are  things  not  to  be  bartered  or  thrown 
away.  But  they  are  withheld  by  the  church.  The  church 
has  superseded  Christ.  The  Christ-spirit  is  sucked  up  in 
creeds  ;  and  it  is  to  be  wrested  back  again. 


134  HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY. 

The  men,  however,  who  seek  to  bring  about  the  change 
are  not  to  do  it  by  leaving  the  organizations  to  which  they 
belong.  And  I  stay  in  the  Congregational  communion,  not 
alone  because  it  is  the  church  of  my  fathers,  and  because  I 
reverence  it ;  not  alone  because  I  think  it  is  the  simplest  and 
the  nearest  Christian  in  its  organization  :  I  stay  in  it,  among 
other  reasons,  because  many  men  say  that  a  minister  in  the 
Congregational  Church  shall  not  have  liberty  to  do  that  which 
the  spirit  of  God  inspires  him  to  do, — and  I  say  he  shall! 
Envious  or  low-thoughted  men  may  say  that  such  things 
indicate  policy.  Yes,  they  do ;  everything  that  is  wise  is 
politic  ;  and  I  assert  for  my  kind  the  right  to  receive  God's 
inspiration  in  living  free  souls.  I  assert  in  behalf  of  the  lib- 
erty of  Christ's  people,  that  no  church  on  earth  has  a  right 
to  coerce  them,  to  domineer  over  them,  or  to  cast  them  out 
because  they  will  not  speak  shibboleth  as  that  church  speaks 
it.  In  Christ,  men  are  free  ;  and  I  stand  on  the  declaration 
of  the  apostle,  who  says,  "  The  fruit  of  the  spirit  is  love,  joy, 
peace,  longsuffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness, 
temperance  :  against  such  there  is  no  law."  They  stand  in 
their  own  divinely  inspired  liberty,  above  law,  not  because 
they  are  without  law,  but  because  they  are  doing  that  which 
the  law  requires  from  a  higher  ground  than  that  on  which 
men  ordinarily  stand — from  spontaneity,  and  not  from  co- 
ercion. 

A  church  must  be  organized  so  as  not  only  to  permit  the 
action  of  personal  liberty,  but  even  to  inspire  it.  It  has 
no  inherent  rights  superior  to  the  rights  of  the  Fruits  of 
the  Spirit.  The  necessities  of  externality  are  not  to  domi- 
neer over  the  living  force  of  men  whom  Christ  has  made 
free  by  the  inspiration  of  love.  Orthodox  or  heterodox, 
anger  and  bitterness  and  pride  are  wrong.  The  inspira- 
tion of  love,  heterodox  or  orthodox,  is  always  right.  Ex- 
pel the  malign,  the  mechanical,  the  deadening  routine,  with 
orderly  cant  and  decent  stupidity.  But  let  light  shine. 
Give  place  to  personal  inspiration.  Let  the  sweet  graces 
have  liberty.  He  whose  orthodoxy  inspires  bitterness  should 
be  disciplined.  He  whose  heterodoxy  inspires  love,  meek- 
ness, goodness,  faith,  joy,  longsuffering,  should  be  exalted. 


HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY.  135 

I  have  but  one  other  view  which  I  will  now  urge.  Chris- 
tianity has  failed  to  make  as  rapid  progress  as  it  should  have 
made,  because  the  character  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  been 
hidden,  and  because  a  corrupted  theology  has  presented  to  us 
a  God  that  will  never  subdue  the  world,  and  that  never  ought 
to  subdue  it  If  there  be  any  truth  in  the  mission  of  Jesus, 
who  came  to  deliver  us  from  our  sins  ;  if  there  be  any  truth 
in  the  compassion  and  suffering  of  Christ ;  if  there  be  any 
truth  in  that  whole  wondrous  history,  in  which,  "being  in  the 
form  of  God,  he  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God  ; 
but  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took  upon  bim  the 
form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  man  ;  and 
being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man,  humbled  himself,  and  be- 
came obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross," 
then,  indeed,  we  have  a  description  of  God.  He  is  a 
Being  clothed  with  infinite  power,  who  uses  himself  for  the 
succor  of  the  weak,  of  the  ignorant,  and  of  the  sinful.  He 
is  that  Principle  of  inspiration  in  the  Universe  that  lifts 
men  up  from  animal  conditions,  and  waits  patiently  for  them 
till  they  are  brought  into  higher  and  divine  relations.  That 
is  the  conception  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  Christ  has  no 
meaning  if  that  is  not  it. 

Now,  if  you  present  to  me  a  God  sitting  back  of  eternal 
forces,  creating  millions  of  men  for  victims,  and  who  is  going 
on  in  endless  succession  creating  them  only  that,  as  he  turns 
the  world  over,  they  may  roll  into  everlasting  perdition,  I  am 
repelled  from  it  by  every  quality  which  the  Gospel  inspires 
and  develops.  Go,  with  all  necromantic  arts,  and  cull  your 
simples  for  conjuration  in  the  shadowy  realms  below,  where 
sin,  and  wrong,  and  hideous  cruelties,  and  detestable  iniqui- 
ties have  swarmed,  and  bring  them  up  from  thenoe,  and  out 
of  these  form  a  conception  of  a  regnant  being  fit  to  rule  in 
hell ;  now  tell  me,  wherein  does  that  portraiture  differ  from  the 
portraiture  which  men  have  often  made  of  Jehovah  ?  They 
have  made  an  infernal  portraiture,  and  they  call  it  God  !  I 
take  every  tear-drop  that  was  shed  in  Gethsemane  to  rub  out  the 
infamous  falsehood  !  I  take  every  drop  of  blood  that  flowed 
on  Calvary,  and  with  that  I  would  make  the  heavens  glow  as 
clouds  do  when  storms  are  pierced  and  driven  by  the  con- 


136  HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY. 

quering  sun  ;  blood,  not  as  the  emblem  of  cruelty,  but  as 
the  emblem  of  mercy.  Do  riot  preach,  to  me  a  God  who 
hates  the  world,  and  treads  it  under  foot,  and  treats  it 
as  if  he  were  a  hideous  tyrant,  making  his  own  pleasure 
and  glory  such  that  they  can  be  augmented  by  the  aim- 
less sufferings  of  myriads  of  men ;  do  not  preach  to  me 
such  an  abominable  devil,  reveling  in  cruelty,  and  call  it 
God  :  preach  to  me  a  Being  that  made  himself  of  no  reputa- 
tion, who  suffered  for  men,  and  walked  the  earth  with  his 
arms  about  them,  and  with  his  heart  beating  against  their 
hearts,  in  order  that  he  might  show  them  what  God  was,  and 
how  God  felt. 

As,  after  a  long  day  of  storm,  the  sun  in  the  west  breaks 
forth,  and  all  trees  rejoice,  hung  with  gems,  while  the 
storm  itself,  moaning  and  murmuring,  dies  away  in  the 
mountains ;  so,  when  the  night  of  heathenism  and  the 
storm  which  ascetic  theology  has  caused  shall  have  passed 
away,  then  bring  forth  the  new  vision  of  God — that  ought 
not  to  be  new  after  two  thousand  years — Jesus  Christ, 
whose  power  was  in  love,  and  joy,  and  peace,  and 
whose  disciples  are  to  be  known  by  love,  and  joy,  and 
peace,  and  longsuffering,  and  gentleness,  and  goodness,  and 
faith,  and  meekaess,  and  temperance  ;  and  let  Him  reign  ! 
Then  the  sun  shall  stand  in  the  firmament  for  a  thousand 
years,  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  the  kingdom  of  earth 
shall  be  one,  and  he  shall  rule  everywhere,  from  the  rising 
of  the  sun  until  the  going  down  of  the  same ! 

Depart,  cruelty,  and  come,  mercy!  Go  down,  hideous 
despotism:  rise  up,  sweet  liberty  and  love  in  Jesus  Christ! 
Come,  Thou  that  once  wert  crowned  with  thorns;  let  the  stars 
shine  from  around  thy  brow  ;  and  all  our  hearts  shall  be 
joined  to  thee.  Even  so,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly. 


HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY.  137 

PKAYEK  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

AWAKEN  in  us,  our  Father,  some  sense  of  those  mercies  which, 
unasked,  are  descending  upon  us.  It  is  not  because  of  their  supplica- 
tion that  the  flowers  receive  thy  dews  by  night  and  thy  sun  fty  day. 
They  know  not,  and  they  come  into  being  only  after  all  these  influ- 
ences. And  thou  art  beforehand  with  us.  It  is  thy  grace  that  makes 
us  think  of  grace.  It  is  thy  fore-running  blessings  that  quicken  in  us 
a  desire  for  blessings.  If  we  long  to  escape  from  fault  and  sin  it  is 
thy  work  that  hath  in  part  been  accomplished  in  us  which  breeds 
the  desire.  And  so  thou  art  evermore  seeking  us ;  and  when  we  lift 
up  our  voices  to  thee,  they  are  but  the  echo,  the  response  in  us,  to  thy 
call.  80  we  rejoice  while  we  supplicate,  believing  that  our  prayers 
are  answered  in  that  they  are  made,  and  that  the  answer  of  prayer  is 
often  the  very  desire  of  prayer. 

We  rejoice  in  thee.  We  rejoice  in  the  consciousness  of  thy  near- 
ness to  us.  We  cannot  understand  thy  greatness.  We  are  at  a  loss  in 
our  understanding  and  in  our  imagination  concerning  thee.  We  can- 
not comprehend  thy  goodness,  it  so  conflicts  with  the  mixed  pride 
and  selfishness  of  our  natures,  struggling  with  generosity  and  with 
love.  We  are  ourselves  so  poor  in  goodness  that  the  royalty  of  thy 
nature,  the  sovereignty  of  thy  love,  we  cannot  fathom.  We  are  more 
puzzled  with  this  than  we  are  with  the  inflniteness  of  thy  nature— 
with  thy  thought-power  and  thy  hand-power. 

We  rejoice,  O  Lord,  that  thou  art  interpreting  thyself  to  us,  little 
by  little,  out  of  ourselves,  and  that  that  goodness  which  is  the  fruit 
of  the  Spirit  in  us  is,  little  by  little,  forming  in  us  some  type  or  con- 
ception of  tbee.  But  how  much  greater  art  thou  than  our  thought  of 
theel  How  free  is  thy  bountiful  nature.  How  can  we,  as  it  were 
shut  up  and  imprisoned  in  earthly  shells,  know  of  it?  What  do  they 
who  dwell  in  shells  on  the  sea-coast,  buried  in  the  sand,  know  of  the 
depth  and  the  power  of  the  ocean  in  which  they  live?  and  what  do 
we  who  lie  buried  on  the  edge  of  the  eternal  and  the  infinite  of  thy 
realm  know  of  the  wealth  and  the  commonwealth  of  God's  heart? 
O  grant  that  we  may  not  be  arrogant,  as  if  we  knew.  May  we  be  con- 
scious of  our  immense  ignorance.  May  we  not  seek  curiously  to 
interpret  those  yearnings  of  our  souls  which  seem  prophecies,  and 
which  seem  to  touch  something,  we  know  not  what.  We  see  dimly, 
as  through  a  glass.  We  see  where  the  morning  sun  is  to  arise,  and 
where  the  light  is  to  come  and  gather  brightness.  We  see  the  glori- 
ous clouds  that  receive  the  light  of  the  sun,  but  the  orb  we  do  not 
discern. 

We  pray  that  TO  may  therefore  stand  in  our  conscious  ignorance, 
and  seek  to  know  more  and  more  of  the  way  in  which  thou  art  to  be 
known,  by  filling  ourselves  with  the  graces  and  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ — with  his  patience;  with  his  forbearance;  with  his  sym- 
pathy for  all  men ;  with  the  protection  which  he  granteth,  by  his 
thoughts,  by  his  enthusiasm  and  by  his  fervor,  lifting  men  up  and 
inspiring  them  with  patience  and  courage,  and  godliness  of  life. 

So  may  we  put  on  Christ,  So  may  he  dwell  in  us,  that,  being 
Inspired  to  do  the  things  which  he  did,  and  to  live  in  the  realms  of 


138  HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY. 

thought  and  feeling  in  which  he  lived,  we  may  come  by  his  experi- 
ence to  a  better  interpretation  of  his  nature  and  requirements  than 
we  can  gain  from  the  letter.  How  poor  is  any  outward  representa- 
tion of  him!  How  imperfect  is  any  mere  understanding!  Our  life 
continually  rubs  out  what  our  thoughts  indite.  We  are  ourselves 
dull  and  unknowing,  and  in  darkness,  because  we  are  so  low  in  our 
life;  because  we  are  so  unfertile  in  goodness;  because  we  are  so  with- 
out ingenuity  in  things  which  make  for  spiritual  excellence.  We  are 
strong  in  our  temper;  we  are  strong  in  our  will ;  we  are  strong  in  our 
physical  reason;  we  are  strong  in  the  things  which  build  up  the  visi- 
ble and  the  outward  in  human  life;  but  in  nil  those  things  which 
belong  to  the  great  realm  above,  how  weak  we  are  and  how  imper- 
fect! We  are  children  without  their  simplicity  and  innocence.  We 
are  like  them  only  in  ignorance. 

And  now  we  pray,  O  pitying  God  that  dost  behold  this  great 
human  realm  where  men  blindly  toil  and  strive,  that  thou  wilt  look 
down  upon  us  in  mercy.  O  thou  that  hast  had  compassion  upon  the 
world,  and  art  having  compassion  upon  it,  lift  us  to  that  sphere  of 
interpretation  in  which  we  may  see  the  course  of  time  and  the  fates 
of  men  with  the  feeling  of  God.  We  pray  that  we  may  have  more  of 
that  compassion  which  brought  thee  from  heaven  to  earth.  We  pray 
that  more  and  more  we  may  seek  to  help  others  rather  than  by  our 
power  to  compel  them  to  serve  us.  Grant  to  us  something  of  the 
largeness  and  grandeur  of  that  divine  charity  which  is  in  Jesus  Christ, 
but  which  hath  been  so  little  imitated  among  his  followers. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  spread  the  spirit  of  love  and  the  all-heal- 
ing power  of  love  among  the  people  in  all  churches.  Take  away 
teihptations  to  bitterness.  Take  away  the  arrogance  of  pride,  and 
the  domination  of  selfishness.  Take  away  everything  which  deprives 
thy  people  of  that  liberty  wherewith  Christ  makes  them  free.  We 
pray  that  we  may  live  together  as  brethren,  in  cooperative  zeal,  seek- 
ing to  surpass  each  other  in  bearing,  in  suffering,  in  expending  our 
forces  for  the  sake  of  others.  May  we  have  a  holy  emulation  in 
things  which  are  like  unto  thee. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  raise  up  those  to  fill  our  places  who  are 
better  able  to  interpret  the  truth  of  God  and  to  exemplify  the  life  of 
Christ  than  we  have  been.  We  look  upon  much  of  it  as  unworthy  of 
thee  and  of  ourselves.  We  are  ashamed  that  our  purposes  have  been 
so  short-lived,  and  that  they  have  been  so  poorly  fulfilled.  Having 
eyes  we  have  seen  not,  and  having  earn  we  have  not  heard.  We  have 
interpreted  the  coarser  things  of  nature,  but  the  things  which  belong 
to  the  kingdom  of  God  we  have  not  known.  We  have  followed  thee 
afar  off.  We  have  sought  thee  for  the  loaves  anoV fishes.  We  have 
been  unworthy  of  the  name  of  disciples,  of  pupils,  or  of  children. 
Lord,  thou  hast  had  a  slothful,  self-indulgent  hous«hold,  hard  to 
bear.  We  have  been  fractious,  disobedient,  unloving  and  unlovely. 
How  few  claspings  and  how  many  buffets  hast  thou  had  from  our 
bauds!  How  little  have  we  followed  thee  in  the  day  of  desolation 
and  abandonment,  and  huw  have  we  crowded  about  thee  in  the  day 
of  triumph !  We  have  co'ne  in  at  the  eastern  gate,  shouting  Hosenna  I 
and  we  have  let  tbet.  gt>  out  at  the  western  gate  amid  cries  of,  Crucify 


HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY.  139 

him!  abiding  In  our  places  aud  refusing  to  bear  with  Christ,  or  to  go 
with  him. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  temper  our  arrogance  by  our  consciousness 
of  our  ill-desert,  and  of  our  relationships  to  thee.  We  pray  that  thou 
wilt  grant  that  the  measures  which  belong  to  immortality,  to  the 
other  and  endless  life,  may  be  substituted  for  those  measures  which 
spring  from  time  and  the  realm  of  the  world.  We  beseech  of  thee 
that  thus  we  may  be  imbued  with  celestial  wisdom,  and  walk  with 
the  spirit  of  the  upper  life. 

Grant,  we  pray  thee,  thy  blessing  to  rest  on  the  families  of  this 
congregation.  Be  with  any  one  of  them  in  which  is  sickness.  If  any 
of  them  are  in  troubles,  bereavements,  bitter  sorrows,  be  with  them 
to  comfort,  and,  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  interpret  the 
meaning  of  thine  earthly  dealings  with  thy  people;  and  say  to  every 
one,  "  Whom  I  love  I  chasten." 

We  pray  that  to  those  who  are  bearing  the  heat  and  burden  of  the 
day  amidst  cares  and  perplexities  thou  wilt  grant  patience  and  man- 
liness. May  they  feel  themselves  called  to  exhibit  Christ  in  the  way 
in  which  they  live  in  human  affairs.  May  they  adorn  the  doctrine  of 
the  Saviour  by  their  integrity,  by  their  honor,  by  their  fidelity,  by 
their  industry,  and  by  their  success. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant,  more  and  more,  to  all  our  house- 
holds, the  spirit  of  heaven.  More  and  more  may  the  family  become 
as  the  gate  of  heaven.  We  pray  that  thou  wilt  remember  the  little 
children,  and  all  that  are  growing  out  of  childhood  into  manhood. 
May  there  be  such  influences  around  about  them  that  they  shall  come 
up  unsoiled  and  unstained.  May  they  consecrate  the  dew  of  their 
youth  and  the  whole  strength  of  their  manhood  alike  to  the  cause  of 
truth,  and  manliness,  and  honor. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  pour  out  thy  spirit  upon  this  whole  land. 
Bless  the  President  of  these  United  States,  and  those  who  are  joined 
with  him  in  authority.  Bless  the  Congress  assembled.  We  beseech 
of  thee  that  the  spirit  of  wisdom  may  be  breathe*!  upon  them  from 
on  high.  Bless  the  Governors  of  the  different  States.  Bless  all  judg- 
es, all  magistrates,  all  that  are  in  authority. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  make  the  people  everywhere  obedient 
unto  the  Lord.  Take  away  the  distemperature  of  passion,  ot  oon- 
flicts,  of  collisions;  and  grant  that  peace  may  abide  everywhere. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  spread  abroad  intelligence  in  all  this  land. 
Join  it  with  virtue  and  true  piety.  Grant  that  the  light  may  shine  in 
dark  places ;  and  that  all  men,  from  the  greatest  unto  the  least,  may 
have  the  light  of  Christian  civilization. 

And  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  bless  not  us  alone,  but  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  May  we  feel  kinship  more  and  more  strongly.  May  we 
be  united  in  the  kingdom  of  faith  as  we  are  in  the  kingdom  of  suffer- 
ing, and  in  all  the  mischiefs  that  have  sprung  from  ignorance  aud 
superstition.  So  may  all  the  nations  be  united  in  hope,  and  in  striv- 
ing after  a  better  day.  And  we  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  take 
out  of  conflict  the  sting  of  bitterness,  of  selfishness,  and  of  hatred ; 
and  that  a  true  sympathy  may  be  felt  throughout  the  world,  and  that 
the  spirit  of  Christ,  the  gn-nt  Civilizer,  may  come  and  reign  among 


140  HINDERING  CHRISTIANITY. 

men.    Let  t  by  kingdom  come,  and  thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  in  In 
heaven. 

And  to  thy  name  shall  be  the  praise,  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit. 

A  men. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

OUR  Father,  grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  we  may  be  drawn  more  and 
more  away  from  the  conflict  of  the  Gospel,  except  that  which  is 
in  ourselves.  More  and  more  may  we  be  clothed  with  the  sweetness 
and  fragrance  of  the  Gospel,  so  that  we  may  win,  by  patience  and  gen- 
tleness, those  who  are  opposed  to  thee  and  to  thy  truth.  Give  us  more 
of  that  knowledge  which  comes  from  being  like  thee.  Fill  us  with  all 
the  blessings  of  God.  And  we  pray  that  so  we  may  be  joined  to  thee. 
And  may  we  find  others  that  are  of  the  same  mind;  and  associating 
ourselves  with  them,  may  we  be  assemblies,  congregations,  or 
churches  bound  together,  not  by  outward  bonds,  not  by  man-made 
policies  and  laws,  which  are  things  of  time  and  earth,  gross  and  sens- 
uous, and  full  of  quarrelings  and  contentions,  leading  to  all  manner  of 
suffering,  but  by  the  sweet  fellowship  of  the  inward  life,  wherein  joy 
sings  to  joy,  and  peace  breathes  upon  peace.  As  in  the  garden  are 
flowers  which  send  forth  sweet  fragrance;  so,  as  flowers  in  the  garden 
of  the  Lord,  may  we  shed  sweetness  on  every  side  of  us.  May  we 
bear  the  fruits  of  righteousness.  May  a  fellowship  of  love  and  sym- 
pathy spring  up  among  all  thy  people.  And  so  may  heaven  be 
among  men.  Hear  us,  and  answer  us,  through  Christ  our  Redeemer. 
Amen. 


SOUL-RELATIONSHIP. 


•*  For  ye  are  all  the  children  of  God  by  Faith  in  Christ  Jesus.  For 
as  many  of  you  as  have  been  baptized  into  Christ  have  put  on  Christ. 
There  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  tbere  is  neither  bond  nor  free,  there 
is  neither  male  nor  female:  for  ye  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  if 
ye  be  Christ's,  then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs  according  to  the 
promise."— Gal.  iii.,  26-29. 

"Now  therefore  ye  are  no  more  strangers  and  foreigners,  but 
fellow-citizens  with  the  saints,  and  of  the  household  of  God ;  and  are 
built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ 
himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone;  in  whom  all  the  building,  fitly 
framed  together,  groweth  into  a  holy  temple  in  the  Lord :  in  whom 
ye  also  are  builded  together  for  a  habitation  of  God  through  the 
Spirit."— Eph.  ii.,  19-22. 


in  both  of  these  passages  stands  out  the  same  general 
thought  —  namely,  the  highest  measure  of  relationships  which 
is  employed  in  the  divine  Word.  You  will  observe  that  one 
difficulty  of  interpreting  the  New  Testament  consists  in  this  : 
that  it  has  a  subtle,  constantly  appearing  and  disappearing, 
evanescent  relation  to  a  higher  stage  of  development  ;  that 
the  manhood  which  either  consciously  or  unconsciously  lies 
in  the  mind  of  the  speaker  or  writer  is  one  which  transcends 
immeasurably  the  manhood  which  actually  exists  here  upon 
earth;  and  that  therefore  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment are  subject  to  exactly  that  difficulty  which  exists  in  the 
college,  in  the  school,  or  in  the  household,  where  persons  of 
preeminent  culture  are  endeavoring  to  convey  some  idea  of 
a  higher  stage  of  knowledge  or  development  to  persons  of  a 
lower  stage. 

The  study  of  that  one  single  phenomenon  would  throw  a 


MORNING,    April   26,   1871.    LESSON:   Eph.  i.      HYMNS   (Plymouth 
Collection)  :  NOB.  1296,  815.  1230. 


144  SOUL-RELATIONSHIP. 

great  deal  of  light  upon  the  general  principles  of  interpreta- 
tion to  be  established  in  regard  to  the  New  Testament,  and 
would  throw  a  great  deal  of  light,  also,  upon  many  of  the 
unsettled  passages  or  knotty  questions  which  exist.  Every 
parent  knows,  we  all  know,  how  hard  it  is  to  teach  the  child 
things  which  belong  to  a  stage  of  growth  that  lies  beyond 
childhood;  we  are  "put  to  it"  all  the  time  by  the  child's 
questions ;  and  the  attempt  to  render  into  the  child's  lan- 
guage, or  rather  into  the  child's  idea,  the  things  which  we 
have  come  to  by  years  and  years  of  growth  and  knowledge, 
builds  up  a  system,  not  of  falsehood  (that  sounds  vicious — 
it  carries  the  idea  of  bad  motive),  but  a  system  of  fables, 
or  of  things  that  are  not  true,  put  for  things  that  are  true. 
If,  in  regard  to  some  of  the  representations  which  are  made 
of  God  and  of  the  Spirit-life  in  the  earlier  periods  of  the 
Book,  we  say,  "They  were  relative  to  a  past  age;  they 
were  fables,  they  are  not  true;"  many  people  are  shocked: 
because  they  have  an  idea  that  revelation  is  absolute  truth, 
and  that  in  teaching  the  world  God  could  not  honorably  or 
purely  have  done  other  than  to  tell  the  exact  truth,  always. 
But  what  if  human  language,  through  which,  if  through 
anything,  revelation  is  to  be  made,  was  fashioned  in  the 
earlier  and  undeveloped  period  of  man's  existence,  so  that 
it  had  not  the  terms  which  belong  to  higher  development — 
as  is  the  fact  ?  What  if  it  were  not  even  now  in  the 
power  of  words  to  convey  ideas  for  which  words  have  never 
been  found?  How  are  you  going  to  get  the  higher  truths 
down  into  lower  forms  ? 

Does  a  mother,  when  she  has  grown  old,  repent  herself  of 
the  thousand  little  artifices  by  which  she  attempted  to  get 
truth  into  the  mind  of  the  child  ?  She  reads  a  fairy  story  ; 
and  the  child  is  perfectly  bewildered,  delighted,  dazzled  with 
it;  but,  is  it  true  ?  No,  it  is  not  true ;  and  yet  it  is  true:  that 
is,  it  is  not  true  in  the  lower  realm  of  fact,  but  in  the  higher 
realm  of  imagination  it  is  true.  It  never  happened  ;  but  then 
it  conveys  an  idea  of  happenings  of  a  certain  sort  You 
make  up  a  little  fable. — that  is  to  say,  an  untedious  novel — 
and  rehearse  it  to  your  children;  and  they  ask,  "Is  it 
true  ?"  You  can  say  either  way  :  you  can  say,  "  Well,  no  ;  it 


SOUL-RELATIONSHIP.  145 

is  not  true";  or  you  can  say.  "  Yes,  it  is  true."  Do  you  not 
know  that  sometimes  an  untruth  is  truer  than  a  truth  ? — I  do 
not  mean  in  the  thing  itself,  but  in  the  impression  which  it 
produces  on  persons'  minds.  The  history  of  the  world  shows 
that  in  the  divine  development  of  a  system  of  instruction 
precisely  those  methods  were  employed  for  the  purposes  of 
unfolding  and  carrying  up  men's  ideas,  and  elevating  the 
standard  of  their  inward  manhood  to  a  higher  plane,  which 
are  employed  in  every  rational  family. 

"  When  I  was  a  child,  I  spake  as  a  child,  I  understood  as  a  child." 

Very  well,  Paul,  then  your  father  and  mother  had  to 
teach  you  as  you  could  understand,  or  else  you  would  not 
have  understood  as  a  child.  You  have  to  adapt  things  to 
each  other.  Although  men  have  come  to  intelligence  and 
refinement,  and  to  a  much  higher  stage  of  development  than 
they  had  reached  in  the  times  of  the  apostles,  yet  all  that  is 
known  in  this  world  with  regard  to  the  after-life,  the  heavenly 
state  of  the  human  soul,  is  as  nothing.  Paul  says  in  the 
thirteenth  of  first  Corinthians  that  our  knowledge  of  the 
future  condition  is  like  the  knowledge  of  our  childhood  in 
regard  to  the  condition  of  mature  manhood.  He  declares 
that  the  whole  after-scene  is  yet  vague  to  him.  He  says, 
"We  see  through  a  glass,  darkly."  He  says  that  now,  in 
this  life,  we  see  only  in  part ;  and  that  only  then,  in  the 
future  life,  shall  we  see  fully,  as  one  sees  when  he  comes 
face  to  face  with  another. 

All  through  the  instruction  of  the  Saviour,  all  through 
his  discourses  in  the  temple  with  the  educated  Jews,  you 
see  the  tests  which  he  brought  to  bear.  It  is  evident 
that  he  had  a  consciousness  of  this  higher  knowledge,  and 
was  attempting  to  teach  men  who  had  not  that  consciousness, 
nor  the  conditions  of  it  in  their  minds ;  so  that  when  he 
attempted  to  approve  his  divinity  before  them,  he  did  not 
say,  "  I  am  God  because  I  can  do  this  or  that;"  he  said,  "I 
am  divine,  and  I  see  divine  truths  in  their  essence.  When 
you  look  at  these  truths,  you  have  no  moral  interpreting 
sensibility,  and  therefore  it  is  impossible  for  you  to  know 
what  they  are.  You  are  of  your  father,  and  you  understand 
the  things  which  belong  to  him ;  I  am  of  my  father,  and 


146  SOUL-RELATIONSHIP. 

when  I  do  works  which  have  reference  to  the  life  beyond  this 
world,  you  do  not  understand  them,  because  the  Spirit  of 
God  is  not  in  you.  You  have  no  power  by  which  to  judge 
of  these  things."  In  the  teaching  of  the  apostle,  when  he  is 
speaking  of  men  and  society,  and  their  relationships,  there  is 
hovering  above  a  higher  vision  or  ideal. 

Now,  in  the  passage  which  I  have  selected  from  Galatians, 
you  will  observe  that  we  are  represented  as  being  "  all  chil- 
dren of  God  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus."  And  it  is  declared 
that  in  a  state  of  relationship  which  stands  in  God  through 
Christ  Jesus, — or,  to  put  it  in  more  philosophical  phraseology, 
in  that  state  which  shall  be  ours  when  we  come  to  our  ideal 
manhood,  so  that  we  shall  possess  the  divine  nature,  not 
having  it  as  we  do  here  in  germs,  but  in  its  higher  devel- 
oped form — all  the  lower  distinctions  are  abolished.  They 
are  relative  to  a  nascent,  germinant  condition  in  time,  and 
in  the  flesh ;  but  in  Jesus  Christ  "  there  is  neither  Jew  nor 
Greek:"  national  relationships  are  all  swept  away  on  that 
higher  plane.  "  There  is  neither  bond  nor  free:"  all  arbi- 
trary conditions,  relative  and  subordinate,  are  gone  in  that 
higher  stage,  however  necessary  they  may  be  in  these  lower 
physical  circumstances.  "  There  is  neither  male  nor  female" 
however  indispensable  the  one  and  the  other  may  be  to  the 
relations  of  human  life  on  earth.  In  the  spirit- world  all 
that  which  is  relative  to  time  and  the  body  ceases.  "  You 
are  all  one  [that  is,  alike]  in  Christ  Jesus " — the  crowned 
head  and  the  peasant ;  the  armed  warrior  and  the  feeblest 
child  ;  the  mightiest  philosopher  and  the  boy  at  school ;  men 
and  women ;  foreigners  and  they  that  are  bred  at  home ; 
bond  and  free.  In  that  higher  manhood  all  those  relation- 
ships which  here  necessarily  and  properly  discriminate  men, 
and  set  them  apart  from  each  other,  are  so  changed  that  it  is 
not  right  to  conceive  of  the  other  life  from  the  divisions 
which  belong  to  this  life.  The  relationships  which  we  have 
there  are  higher  and  nobler  than  any  that  we  have  here. 

And  so  it  is  with  the  other  passage  which  I  read,  "  We 
are  no  more  strangers  and  foreigners."  That  is  to  say,  all 
those  enclosures  in  which  men  live  in  this  mortal  state,  all 
those  household  divisions  which  exist  here,  in  the  higher 


SOUL-RELATIONSHIP.  147 

state  are  unknown  ;  and  we  have  a  glimpse  of  this,  as  I  shall 
show,  even  in  this  world. 

As  we  pass  along  by  the  magnificent  houses  in  some 
street,  we  know  that  in  them  is  living  the  father,  and  his 
brood  of  children  that  inherit  his  wealth,  and  have  partici- 
pated in  it.  We  know  that  in  these  houses  are  bands  of 
people  connected  together  by  various  ties,  and  that  for  the 
most  part  they  live  honorably  and  joyfully  together.  If  we 
pass  by  them  at  night  we  see  bright  lights  shining  in  them, 
and  other  evidences  of  conviviality  ;  and  if  we  pass  them 
by  day  we  observe  signs  of  comfort  and  happiness.  Now, 
though  I  may  be  a  very  respectable  man,  I  should  not  think 
it  right  for  me  to  walk  into  one  of  these  houses  unbidden, 
and  sit  down  in  the  parlor,  and  commence  looking  at  the 
book,  or  the  picture,  or  playing  with  the  children.  Suppose 
I  did  it,  and  the  father  came  in  and  looked  at  me  inquiringly, 
I  should  not  think  of  saying,  "  I  took  the  liberty,  sir,  to  come 
in  here.  I  am  no  stranger  to  you.  I  belong  to  just  such 
men  as  you  are.  These  little  ones  are  my  children,  and  these 
grown  people  are  my  brothers  and  sisters  and  friends.  Do 
not  trouble  yourself  about  me.  I  will  make  myself  at  home 
here."  I  think  he  would  stare  at  me,  and  would  have  a  right 
to  stare  at  me,  if  I  did  anything  of  that  sort. 

But  the  apostle  says,  "  We  are  no  more  strangers  in  the 
light  of  the  higher  development.  There  is  a  state,  there  is  a 
condition,  there  is  a  place,  in  which  men  and  women, 
wherever  you  find  them,  are  like  each  other,  and  are  equal  to 
each  other,  in  Christ  Jesus."  He  means  the  higher,  the 
heavenly  realm  of  development.  The  time  is  coming  when 
we  shall  be  no  more  strangers  and  no  more  foreigners.  Now 
we  are  divided  in  spiritual  things  as  we  could  not  be  divided 
by  the  highest  mountains  through  which  tunnels  cannot  be 
pierced  ;  but  there  is  coming  a  time  when  we  shall  not  be 
foreigners  in  any  land,  and  when  we  shall  all  speak  the  same 
tongue — not  literally,  but  in  a  sense  of  spiritual  conception. 

We  are  now,  in  this  nascent  state  of  existence  on  earth, 
connected,  in  the  first  instance,  by  blood,  by  household  con- 
tiguity ;  and  that  is  supposed  to  be  the  basis  and  test  of  all 
genuine  relationship. 


148  SOUL-RELATIONSHIP. 

It  is  supposed  that  there  may  be  metaphorical  and  imag- 
inary relationships,  but  that  the  real  relationship  is  that  of  the 
flesh.  There  is  a  relationship  between  parent  and  child,  and 
between  brothers  and  sisters,  in  the  household,  which  is 
noble,  and  which  is  justified  by  its  necessities,  and  made 
honorable  by  its  fruits ;  but  is  it?  the  highest  relationship  ? 
Out  of  it  does  there  not  grow  something  higher  yet  ?  What 
is  it  that  by-and-by  takes  one  away  from  both  father  and 
mother,  to  one  with  whom  he  has  no  blood-relationship  and 
no  kinship,  to  give  to  her  a  more  absorbing  love,  and  a  more 
perfect  life  than  he  does  to  father  and  mother  ?  It  is  a  new 
and  a  higher  affection.  It  is  an  affection  which  is  founded 
on  elective  affinities — on  spirit  reasons. 

As  we  go  out  of  the  household,  we  find  other  mutual 
relations  of  men.  And  first,  they  are  grouped  together  in 
neighborhoods,  and  common  exigencies  and  common  neces- 
sities make  neighbors  sustain  relationships  to  each  other. 

Sometimes  these  relationships  are  vexed  by  little  frets,  and 
bickerings,  and  envies,  and  jealousies,  and  passions.  How 
often  neighbors  quarrel  about  a  stone-wall  that  is  two  inches 
over  the  line  ;  or  about  some  animal  that  has  broken  into  this 
or  that  field ;  or  about  some  matter  touching  the  treatment  of 
one  another's  children  !  And  so  men  live  in  their  canine  na- 
ture, in  their  vulpine  nature,  all  their  lives  disturbed  and 
annoyed  by  their  passions.  And  yet,  in  good  neighborhoods, 
there  are  important  and  necessary  relations  which  are  fruitful 
of  joy  all  through  one's  life. 

You  cannot  tell  how  much  you  think  of  a  neighbor  until 
you  meet  him  abroad,  in  Paris,  for  instance,  at  the  Grand 
Hotel.  He  may  be  a  man  that  you  scarcely  thought  of  at 
home ;  he  may  be  a  man  that  you  looked  upon  as  a  milk-and- 
water  sort  of  fellow ;  as  an  indifferent  kind  of  person ;  as  a 
punctuation  point,  so  to  speak,  in  society ;  but  seeing  him 
there,  you  almost  kiss  him,  you  are  so  glad  to  see  him ;  and 
you  say,  "Why,  neighbor,  how  do  you  do?"  He  is  glad  to 
see  you,  too,  though  he  rather  wonders  at  the  affection  which 
you  display  toward  him,  and  which  he  hardly  suspected 
before. 

There  is  a  relationship  in  neighborhood,  which  is  worth 


SOUL-RELATIONSHIP.  149 

making  better,  and  which  is  indispensable  to  comfortable  and 
kind  living. 

Then  we  have  relationships  of  a  civil  character.  We  are 
drawn  together  by  our  common  duties ;  by  our  obligations 
under  the  law  ;  by  those  things  which  we  are  bound  to  do  in 
partnership  for  the  maintenance  of  the  commonwealth,  and 
for  the  peace  and  safety  of  our  own  households  in  connection 
with  the  households  of  others.  For  so  society  is  built  that 
the  interest  of  each  one  is  the  interest  of  the  whole,  and  the 
interest  of  the  whole  is  the  interest  of  each  one. 

Then  come  arbitrary  commercial  relationships,  in  things 
which  may  involve  honor,  rectitude,  truth,  honesty,  pride, 
vanity  and  selfishness.  They  may  be  high  or  low  just  as  we 
gauge  them ;  but  they  are  real.  The  partner  is  next  to  the 
brother ;  and  those  who  are  of  the  same  guild  or  kind  have 
a  sort  of  connection  together,  and  are  related  to  each  other 
both  by  antipathies  and  by  sympathies. 

Now,  when  I  am  talking  thus,  and  speaking  as  far  as  this, 
everybody  says,  "You  are  on  good  ground;  you  are  doing 
very  well ;  what  you  say  is  sensible.  Yes,  people  are  related 
because  they  are  born  together,  because  they  live  in  the  same 
neighborhood,  and  because  they  perform  the  same  offices. 
Yes,  the  relationships  of  men  in  common  every  day  life  are 
good,  substantial,  effectual  relationships.  Yes,  and  men  are 
united  together  under  the  same  government,  in  the  same 
state,  and  in  the  same  county.  They  are  substantially  joined 
together  if  they  belong  to  the  same  party.  I  admit  that 
these  are  all  actual  relationships.  Yes,  and  if  men  are  in 
business  together,  their  interests  are  co-related.  And  the 
playing  of  partners  into  each  others'  hands  brings  them  yet 
closer  together." 

And  I  begin  to  say,  "But  there  are  more  relationships 
than  these ;  there  are  relationships  which  are  established  by 
reason  of  taste."  "Yes."  "There  are  relationships  which 
are  established  by  reason  of  like  affections."  "  Y-e-s — yes — 
yes ;  but  don't  go  too  far.  Now  you  are  getting  on  rather 
misty  ground."  "There  are  relationships  which  are  estab- 
lished by  moral  similarities  and  attractions."  "  Yes — per- 
haps; but  I  believe  in  good  substantial  things.  I  cannot  fly 


150  SOUL-RELATIONSHIP. 

quite  so  high  as  you  can.  You  are  metaphysical.  You  be- 
lieve in  these  invisible  isms — I  do  not  know  what  they  are  ;  I 
suppose  they  are  right ;  I  think  poetry  is  good  in  its  place ; 
but  I  like  facts.  I  like  things  that  I  can  put  my  foot  and 
hand  on.  I  am  sensible."  Yes,  and  you  are  sensuous.  You 
believe  as  far  as  your  sight  can  go  in  the  lower  animal  sphere  ; 
you  believe  a  little  further — as  far  as  those  things  go  which 
knit  you  together  in  business  and  politics ;  but  the  moment 
you  rise  to  that  plane  where  those  relationships  exist  which 
spring  out  of  an  ideal  manhood — which  are  not  merely  possi- 
ble, but  certain,  being  developed  partly  in  this  life,  and  to  be 
developed  eminently  in  the  life  which  is  to  come ;  the  moment 
we  lift  ourselves  up  into  the  realm  of  our  true  manhood — 
that  moment  men's  faith  begins  to  fall  off,  and  to  say,  "  Ah  ! 
that  is  poetry.  It  is  very  pretty  to  think  of,  but  you  cannot 
eat  it,  nor  drink  it,  nor  handle  it,  nor  do  much  with  it." 

Now,  I  affirm  that  the  manhood  which  belongs  to  our 
coming  state,  and  which  is  merely  hinted  at  here  by  germ- 
spots,  by  intimations,  are  not  only  real,  but  are  more  real 
than  the  lower  elements  of  our  being.  They  are  real  because 
they  have  an  immortal  nature.  They  are  things  which  do 
not  perish  with  the  using.  When  flesh  and  blood  go  down 
the  soul  goes  up ;  and  these  qualities  which  join  men  to  each 
other  are  imperishable.  They  survive  time  and  the  grave, 
and  the  touch  of  God  shall  give  them  form  and  validity  and 
endless  power. 

It  is  this  higher  relationship  that  I  wish  to  bring  out  clearly 
to  your  minds.  When  a  man's  soul  is  for  the  time  disen- 
gaged from  its  lower  relations,  it  lifts  itself  into  commerce 
with  the  divine,  it  is  stimulated,  it  is  infused  with  the  very 
spirit  of  heaven,  and  even  here  we  sometimes  get  foregleams 
of  that  coming  life  of  divine  purity.  And  when,  hereafter, 
the  soul  shall  rise,  under  this  divine  loving  influence, 
into  its  own  normal  self,  into  its  fullest  and  realest  self,  then 
those  divisions  which  separate  us  here  (which  are  useful 
for  education,  which  are  necessary  to  our  development), 
those  demarcations  and  separating  lines  which  divide  us,  will 
be  done  away ;  and  all  ties  of  consanguinity  and  affinity  will 
be  superseded  by  the  higher  and  tinier  relationship  of  the  soul, 


SOUL-RELATIONSHIP.  151 

which  will  be  more  real,  more  penetrating,  and  more  plen- 
teous in  blessing.  The  invisible  and  ideal,  or,  if  you  please, 
the  romantic  conception,  is  nearer  to  final  truth  than  the 
visible  and  the  substantial. 

AY <.'  are,  in  God's  universe,  not  foreigners  to  any,  nor 
strangers  anywhere.  In  Jesus  Christ  there  is  neither  Jew 
nor  Gentile ;  neither  bond  nor  free  :  men  are  without  such 
marks  as  divide  one  from  another  in  this  world.  There  is  an 
altitude,  there  is  an  experience,  there  is  a  realm  in  which  souls, 
coming  together,  shall  all  own  each  other ;  all  have  liberty 
with  each  other  ;  all  dwell  upon  a  like  plane,  and  under  a  like 
influence — this  is  the  apostolic  conception  of  the  spiritual 
future. 

If  this  be  true,  ought  we  not  to  seek,  not  to  gratify  that 
which  stands  immutable  in  our  lower  nature,  but  to  gain  that 
which  we  are  to  come  to,  if  we  come  to  it  at  all,  by  accept- 
ing Christ  ? 

"  As  many  as  received  him,  to  them  gave  he  power  to  become  the 
sons  of  God." 

This  high  relationship  is  evolved.  It  is  the  last  and  high- 
est stage  of  the  evolution  through  which  we  are  going.  If  we 
believe  in  this  higher  development,  and  in  the  nobleness  and 
fruitfulness  of  it,  ought  we  not  to  take  into  consideration — 
revolutionary  consideration — the  fact  that  a  man  who  lives 
in  these  relationships  of  the  body  and  of  the  physical  globe, 
lives  in  the  meagerest  and  poorest  elements  of  his  nature. 

It  seems  to  me  that  men  are  paupers,  not  having  devel- 
oped those  elements  with  which  they  are  endowed.  I  com- 
]>lain  of  men,  I  find  fault  with  them,  because  they  build  their 
families,  their  business,  their  whole  commerce  one  with  an- 
other, on  an  animal,  visible,  sensuous  plane — because  they 
do  not  bring  down  these  ideals  and  glorious  possibilities  of 
the  future,  and  employ  them  to  irradiate,  refine,  sweeten,  and 
ennoble  the  relationships  which  do  and  must  subsist  between 
them  here. 

There  are  some  who  would  say,  "  Since  we  are  no  more 
strangers  and  pilgrims,  and  since  we  are  workers  together 
with  God,  we  ought  not  to  esteem  any  longer  these  outward 
relationships."  Nay,  because  we  are  tending  to  a  higher 


152  SOUL-RELATIONSHIP. 

state  it  seems  to  me  that  these  relationships  ought  to  be 
brighter  and  sweeter. 

We  talk  a  great  deal  about  the  refinement  of  the  family ; 
and  there  are  a  great  many  refinements  in  the  family  ;  yet, 
when  I  look  at  the  way  in  which  men  live  at  large,  one 
with  another,  I  am  pained  at  the  harshness  and  hardness  of 
social  life  ;  at  its  narrow  scope  of  thought  and  feeling  ;  at  its 
servitudes ;  at  its  divisions ;  at  its  envyings  ;  at  its  barbari- 
ties ;  at  its  despotisms  ;  at  its  cruelties. 

When  I  look  into  the  actual  structure  of  life,  I  see,  in  one 
circle,  a  woman  who,  by  her  temper,  is  a  flame  of  fire  ;  and  I 
see  that  there  is  fever  incessantly  there ;  nor  can  there  be 
peace.  In  another  circle  I  see  a  man,  rude,  coarse,  cruel- 
mouthed,  who  rules  with  an  iron  hand  everybody  that 
comes  within  his  reach.  Everything  has  to  yield  to  him. 
He  treads  on  a  score  of  people.  Their  business  is  to  make 
him  happier — to  fan  him  ;  to  pat  him  ;  to  feed  him  ;  to 
take  things  out  of  his  way ;  to  soften  his  path  ;  to  do  him 
good.  He  stands  as  a  great  absorbent  of  all  the  light  and 
heat  that  belongs  not  only  to  him,  but  to  all  those  by  whom 
he  is  surrounded.  He  is  as  great  a  despot  in  the  family  as 
ever  Nero  was  on  the  throne  of  Eome. 

When  I  look  at  the  quarrelings  in  families  :  when  I  see 
how  much  men  live  to  eat  and  drink  and  sleep  ;  when  I  ob- 
serve how  low-thoughted  they  are,  how  little  they  manifest 
that  sweetness  of  affection  which  serves,  and  how  little  there 
is  that  irradiates  their  lives  in  comparison  with  what  there 
might  be,  my  heart  sickens.  There  are  notable  exceptions  ; 
there  are  admirable  types  of  something  better  and  higher ; 
yet,  looking  at  the  community  collectively,  men  are  on  a 
plane  but  one  or  two  removes  from  the  animal  condition. 
They  are  purified  a  little,  they  are  restrained  a  little,  there 
is  a  germ  of  affection  here  and  there,  but  there  is  not  that 
which  we  might  be  justified  in  expecting  to  see  in  beings  who 
are  dignified  with  the  title  of  sons  of  God.  It  is  only  when 
we  remember  that  they  are  God's  sons,  and  that  they  are 
under  the  divine  care,  that  we  can  look  upon  them  with 
much  complacency. 

You  hear  many  sermons  that  tell  you  that  you  ought  to 


SOUL-RELATIONSHIP.  153 

be  meek  and  humble — and  that  is  all  very  well ;  but  I  am 
afraid  that  you  do  not  hear  many  sermons  that  tell  you  that 
you  live  in  your  families  to  growl,  and  bite,  and  devour  one 
another;  and  that  the  pride  and  selfishness  and  vanity  oi 
your  nature  are  more  influential  than  the  spiritual  affinities 
— than  hope,  and  joy,  and  love,  and  peace,  and  generous 
sweetness. 

And  I  say  that  if  you  are  sons  of  God,  if  you  are  lifted 
up  by  the  spirit  of  God  so  that  you  understand  the  higher, 
the  nobler,  and  the  diviner  relations  of  your  natures  to  each 
other,  you  ought  to  have  the  benefit  of  them  in  your  families. 
You  ought  to  bring  these  relations  down  into  the  household, 
and  to  realize  them  there,  to  some  extent ;  you  should 
make  the  outward  and  the  visible  elements  of  your  life  work 
for  them.  There  can  be  nothing  too  graceful,  or  too  truth- 
ful, or  too  generous,  or  too  disinterested,  or  too  gracious  for 
the  household.  All  that  which  a  man  expects  to  be  in 
heaven  he  ought  to  try  to  be  from  day  to  day  with  his  wife 
and  children,  and  those  who  are  members  of  his  family. 
The  spirit  of  heaven  would  diminish  greatly  the  distance  be- 
tween the  parlor  and  the  kitchen,  between  "the  stranger 
that  is  within  thy  gates  "and  thine  own  self.  The  house- 
hold is  the  strongest  institution  in  our  land,  and  the  one  that 
is  nearest  divine.  The  Church  is  not  to  be  compared  in 
fruitfulness  of  spirit  with  the  family.  The  Church  is  bleak 
and  barren  as  compared  with  the  household.  But  the  house- 
hold has  not  begun  to  rise  and  shine  in  this  world  as  it  will 
when  the  full  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  have  arisen  upon  it. 

Secondly,  in  the  conditions  of  man's  life,  relationships  are, 
and  will  long  be,  very  low  and  unfruitful.  If  in  the  very 
family,  where  we  have  the  advantage  of  all  the  helps  which 
come  from  common  loves  and  common  rearing,  the  higher 
relationships  of  life  be  relatively  undeveloped  and  imperfect, 
how  much  more  must  they  be  undeveloped  and  imperfect 
where  the  intercourse  of  men  is  low  and  physical,  and  of  the 
selfish  world. 

There  is,  in  the  first  place,  a  spirit  of  indifference  with 
which  we  meet  men.  We  meet  them  not  even  with  as  much 
consideration  as  that  with  which  ants  meet  each  other.  If 


154  SOUL-RELATIONSHIP. 

in  summer  you  watch  ants  as  they  are  running  along  on  the 
bark  of  a  tree  in  search  of  sweet  juice's,  you  will  observe  that 
they  never  come  together  in  streams  without  kissing.  They 
touch  and  go,  always.  But  in  human  life  we  meet  throngs 
and  throngs  and  throngs  of  men,  and  they  are  no  more  to  us 
than  the  shadows  which  the  leaves  of  trees  cast  down  upon 
the  ground.  The  sense  of  the  greatness  of  manhood,  the 
sense  of  being  in  a  man,  is  comparatively  small.  To  the  great 
mass  of  men  we  are  simply  indifferent. 

And  then,  there  are  between  us  and  those  whom  we  should 
love,  strivings,  and  rivalries,  and  matches  of  strength  or  skill. 
Our  relations  to  them  are  such  as  lead  to  various  conflicts  and 
partisan  affiliations  and  oppositions.  We  are  thrown  con- 
tinually into  antagonism  toward  men.  We  are  on  the  jar 
with  them  almost  all  the  while.  If  you  put  on  all  the  pres- 
sure of  the  bellows  of  this  organ,  and  pull  out  all  the  stops, 
press  all  the  keys  and  pedals  together,  and  bring  out  that 
multitudinous  groaning  and  screaming  and  roaring  which 
would  be  produced  by  all  the  discordant  and  clashing  notes 
of  the  instrument, — that's  New  York. 

You  have  thought,  perhaps,  on  seeing  me  go  up  Wall 
street,  and  look  on  one  side  and  on  the  other,  that  I  was 
thinking  about  stocks  ;  that  I  was  wishing  I  knew  how  to  get 
some  of  that  gold  which  was  stored  there:  I  was  not  thinking 
of  any  such  thing.  I  may  have  wished  that  I  could  plan  a 
little  more  wisely  about  money  matters,  but  that  was  not  the 
burden  of  my  thoughts.'  When  I  have  been  over  there,  I 
have  watched  how  men  came  together ;  how  insincere  they 
were  in  their  courtesies ;  how  they  were  actuated  by  self- 
interest  ;  how  politic  they  were  ;  how  they  watched  each  other 
for  an  opportunity  to  get  the  advantage.  There  is  a  general 
superficial  good  nature,  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  good  fel- 
lowship, and  men  meet  each  other  with  kindly  feelings,  appar- 
ently ;  but  when  you  come  to  look  in  where  the  man  is  him- 
self in  the  plenitude  of  his  power,  how  superficial  are  these 
relationships !  and  how  real  are  their  collisions  and  strifes  ! 
Men  go  armed,  not  with  visible  mail,  but  with  mailed 
thoughts.  Men  sift  what  is  said  to  them.  They  suspect  the 
utterances  of  their  fellow-men.  They  take  every  man  as  he 


SOUL-RELATIONSHIP.  155 

comes,  and  measure  him,  and  sit  in  judgment  on  what  he 
says  and  does.  The  spirit  of  peace  is  not  in  them. 

The  intercourse  of  men  in  business  is  on  a  low  plane. 
The  animal  part  of  it  is  in  the  preponderant.  That  which 
allies  men  with  the  great  herd  of  lower  animals,  the  self- 
defensory  or  aggressive  element,  the  passion  of  life,  gives  tone 
character  and  color  even  to  their  manners. 

Society  is  very  low  down  in  the  scale.  If  you  measure  it 
by  the  intelligence  which  prevails  in  Caffraria,  if  you  com- 
pare its  condition  with  that  in  which  men  live  in  Nootka 
Sound  or  Nova  Zembla,  if  you  take  a  standard  that  is  low 
enough,  we  live  very  high  ;  but  if  you  take  a  conception  of 
manhood  in  Christ  Jesus,  that  is  full  of  sympathy  and  gentle- 
ness and  genial  influence  and  lovingness,  and  measure  the 
way  in  which  men  live  in  society  by  that  standard,  then  our 
relations  are  very  coarse,  and  society  is  low-toned.  What  is 
called  high-toned  society  is  the  lowest  of  all,  half  the  time — 
for  T  think  that  feigned  good  will,  and  insincere  affections, 
or  mere  conventional  kindness,  that  carries  under  it  all  the 
poison  of  envy  and  jealousy,  is  worse  than  the  same  thing  in 
a  less  guileful,  and  so  in  a  less  harmful,  form. 

Thirdly,  men  in  this  world  have  a  right  to  each  other 
in  a  far  higher  sense  than  they  have  to  any  considerable 
extent  been  accustomed  to  recognize.  I  suppose  there  is 
nobody  who  has  not  some  little  bit  of  liking  to  trace  his 
ancestors.  I  have  spent  many  hours  in  New  Haven,  where 
my  great  ancestors  landed,  in  looking  up  the  books,  and  ex- 
amining the  name  of  Beech er,  on  one  side,  and  that  of  Foote 
on  the  other.  I  like  to  know  who  these  ancestors  in  my 
family  were,  and  what  they  did  ;  (and  it  will  undoubtedly  be 
a  great  pleasure  to  you  to  know  that  I  have  traced  up  on 
both  sides  until  I  have  found  a  Coat  of  Arms!) 

Now,  that  instinct  is  not  to  be  despised.  That  is  a  low 
form  of  it  which  consists  in  tracing  one's  physical  relation- 
ship. But  I  rejoice  to  think  that  on  the  higher  plane,  not  by 
a  figure  of  speech,  and  not  metaphorically,  but  in  the  counsel 
of  God,  and  in  the  eternal  verity  and  reality  of  the  spirit  life, 
every  noble  man  and  every  noble  woman  that  ever  lived  on 
earth  were  my  brother  and  my  sister,  or  my  ancestors.  No 


156  SOUL-RELATIONSHIP. 

man  ever  thought  nobly  and  lived  nobly  of  whom  our  hearts 
should  not  say,  He  was  one  of  my  ancestors.  I  am  right 
in  the  line  of  that  man.  No  man  ever  wrought  to  make 
the  world  better,  that  he  was  not  my  brother.  No  man 
ever  labored  to  exemplify  the  coming  manhood,  that  he  was 
not  kindred  to  me.  Whatever  nation  he  belonged  to,  he 
belonged  to  my  nation.  Whatever  language  he  spoke,  he 
spoke  my  language.  Whatever  sphere  he  wrought  in  was 
my  sphere.  Whether  he  was  crowned  or  uncrowned,  he  was 
of  my  lineage.  I  own  him  ;  and  if  he  is  saved  he  owns  me. 
And  all  over  the  world,  there  are  no  spirits  bearing  and 
enduring,  with  fortitude  and  with  cheerfulness,  in  obscurity, 
that  they  are  not  my  unknown  relations.  I  have  brothers 
and  sisters,  oh  how  many  !  My  father  has  an  enormous 
family — for  my  father  is  God.  My  eldest  brother  is  named 
Jesus  Christ.  And  the  relationships  which  spring  out  of 
this  fatherhood  and  this  brotherhood — how  many  they  are  ! 
Those  sweet  spirits  who  watch  in  sick  rooms  through 
months  and  through  years — living  sacrifices  for  the  sake  of 
the  poor  and  the  suffering — they  are  my  sisters.  Jesus  said, 
"Who  is  my  mother  ?  and  who  are  my  brethren  ?"  "  Who- 
soever doeth  the  will  of  God,  he  is  my  mother,  my  brother 
and  my  sister." 

And  so,  wherever,  all  over  the  world,  men  are  denying 
themselves  for  rectitude,  and  enduring  for  that  which  is 
just  and  true,  and  living  courageously  for  the  right,  and 
exemplifying  purity  and  sweetness,  and  diffusing  happiness, 
let  us  be  able  to  claim  them  and  say,  They  are  my  brethren ! 

I  have  a  great  many  friends  in  Rome,  and  the  Pope  is  one 
of  them.  He  would  not  come  to  see  me,  I  suppose ;  but  I 
would  as  lief  go  to  see  him  as  not.  He  would  hardly  say  that 
I  was  orthodox  ;  but  I  really  believe  that  he  is  orthodox ;  and 
I  would  ordain  him  if  he  wanted  me  to  ;  and  I  would  let  him 
preach  here  if  he  asked  the  privilege.  I  believe  he  is  a  good 
old  man.  As  to  the  cobwebs  which  he  has  in  his  head,  those 
will  be  brushed  away  before  long,  and  he  will  laugh  to  think 
how  many  gewgaws  and  phantasies  he  has  had.  And  you, 
yourself,  in  another  place,  have  as  many  as  he.  We  all  have 
them — some  in  one  way,  and  some  in  another.  But  what- 


SOUL-RELATIONSHIP.  157 

ever  in  him  is  good  and  true  and  pare  and  right  makes  him 
my  brother. 

The  Catholic  Church — that  great  extended  organization — 
I  consider,  as  a  church,  to  be  excessively  operose,  full  of  ac- 
cumulated rubbish ;  like  an  old  mansion  in  which  a  miser 
has  lived,  who  would  not  allow  anything  to  be  sold,  and  who 
put  everything  in  the  garret — cradles,  truckle-beds,  furniture, 
dishes,  broom-handles  and  the  like — through  ages,  until  it  has 
become  a  vast  museum  of  stuff — miserable  stuff.  The  Church 
of  Rome  is  crowded  full  of  fables  and  superstitions  and  dog- 
mas ;  and  it  has  a  wonderful  power  of  cataloguing ;  and  it 
puts  them  all  in  order,  and  makes  an  inventory  of  them,  and 
tries  to  have  a  use  for  each  one ;  but  yet,  there  are  many 
good  things  in  the  Church  of  Rome.  Everybody  has  his  baby- 
house,  his  toys,  his  little  artificial  things ;  and  in  that  church 
there  is  a  vast  amount  of  rubbish  ;  but  it  has  a  great  deal  of 
feeling  that  is  right  and  pure  and  heroic.  It  has  a  great  deal 
that  is  of  the  spirit — of  the  very  sweetest  and  choicest  spirit — 
of  Christ  or  of  God.  And  there  is  not  a  true  man  or  woman 
in  that  church  to  whom  my  heart  does  not  say,  "  Brother, 
sister,  you  are  mine."  All  good  people  in  that  church  are 
mine,  not  oratorically,  or  rhetorically,  nor  by  any  figure  of 
speech,  but  by  a  relationship  which  is  higher  than  that  of 
brother  or  sister,  father  or  mother.  The  body  cannot  make 
such  a  relationship  as  the  soul  can.  Soul-blood  is  more  than 
body-blood. 

I  bless  God  for  the  Catholic  churches  which  are  spread- 
ing in  this  country.  I  would  not  hinder  them.  Some  think 
that  a  proper  examination  for  a  candidate  for  the  church 
would  be  this :  "  Do  you  acknowledge  yourself  to  be  a  sin- 
ner ?"  "I  do."  "  Do  you  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?" 
"I  do."  "  Do  you  hate  the  Catholics  ?"  "I  do."  Step  in, 
then — you  are  all  right." 

I  believe  in  no  such  creed  as  that.  I  acknowledge  every 
man  to  be  a  Christian  brother  who  shows  himself  to  be  in  the 
temperature  of  eternal  summer,  which  is  the  temperature  of 
love,  whether  he  be  Catholic,  or  Episcopalian,  or  Methodist, 
or  Baptist,  or  Lutheran,  or  Congregationalist,  oj-  Swedenbor- 
gian,  or  Universalist,  or  Unitarian.  I  do  not  care  what  hat 


158  SOUL-RELATIONSHIP. 

a  man  wears.  It  is  the  man  under  the  hat  that  I  care  for.  I 
do  not  care  what  name  you  put  on  a  gathering  of  men  if 
they  give  evidence  that  the  Spirit  of  God  is  in  them.  By  my 
higher  manhood  I  come  into  unity  with  them,  though  by  my 
lower  manhood  I  am  incited  to  contend  against  them. 

I  do  not  preach  Calvinism  ;  I  abhor  the  central  idea  of  it ; 
but  I  think  there  is  not  a  better  service  of  God  on  earth  than 
that  of  a  great  multitude  of  theologically  Calvinistic  preach- 
ers ;  and  do  you  think  I  feel  oppugnation  toward  them  ?  No, 
I  glory  in  them.  I  am  glad,  sometimes,  that  other  persons 
can  preach  things  which  I  cannot  conscientiously  preach,  but 
which  answer  certain  ends  of  society  in  its  crude  state. 

Do  you  think  that  I  am  opposed  to  the  great  Episcopal 
Church  in  its  relations  in  England,  in  its  past  history,  in  the 
plenitude  of  its  interior  experiences,  in  its  multitude  of  pious 
men  and  women,  in  its  long  procession  of  learned  works  that 
have  spread  the  light  and  humanity  of  the  Gospel  on  the 
globe  ?  Do  you  think  I  would  put  any  obstacle  in  their  way  ? 
They  might  not  let  me  preach  in  their  pulpits  ;  but  I  do  not 
care  for  that.  They  might  not  let  me  go  to  their  communion ; 
but  I  do  not  care  for  that.  Why  should  I  care  for  the  com- 
munion table  so  long  as  I  can  go  to  the  bosom  of  the  Saviour 
himself  ?  These  are  outward  things.  They  are  mere  shadows. 
The  weak  need  them ;  but  there  may  be  a  strength  that  does 
not  need  them.  There  are  a  great  number  of  archbishops, 
bishops,  priests,  deacons,  and  holy  men  and  women  in  that 
church  who  are  mine  in  whatever  there  is  of  them  that  will 
last  until  after  death,  and  stand  in  the  other  life,  in  the  es- 
sential elements  of  humanity,  and  especially  that  part  of 
humanity  which  is  sanctified  by  the  spirit  of  the  living  God. 

Do  you  think  that  the  great  outlying  Methodists  of  this 
nation — our  Christian  brethren  that  are  carrying  the  truth 
of  God  into  every  remote  part  of  this  land — are  alien  from 
me  because  they  differ  from  me  in  certain  ordinances  and 
regulations  ?  I  bless  God  for  the  existence  of  every  one  of 
them. 

So  I  have  a  sense,  not  that  I  stand  strong  in  this  church, 
or  by  reason  of  the  number  of  Congregational  churches  in 
New  England,  and  in  the  West  and  Northwest.  For  certain 


SOUL-RELATIONSHIP.  159 

reasons  I  am  gratified  by  the  gradual  increase  of  Congre- 
gationalism and  Congregational  churches  ;  but  this  is  no  rea- 
son why  I  should  not,  and  no  reason  why  I  do  not,  take  pleas- 
ure in  the  increase  of  the  other  churches.  If  anybody 
thinks  he  can  vex  me  by  starting  a  Presbyterian  church  right 
in  this  neighborhood,  iet  him  try  it.  I  will  rejoice  in  it.  If 
anybody  says,  "  You  ought  to  go  into  that  neighborhood  and 
preach,  for  the  Catholics  are  taking  entire  possession  of  it," 
I  say,  "Let  them  take  possession  of  it."  I  would  rather 
that  they  should  have  it  all  than  that  nobody  should  have  it. 
Though  it  will  be  a  good  thing  also  to  start  some  other 
church  in  their  neighborhood ;  for  1  think  it  better  for  all 
the  sects  that  other  sects  should  stand  near  to  them.  I  think 
that  the  action  of  the  sects  upon  each  other  is  wholesome.  At 
any  rate,  it  keeps  them  in  order  and  stirs  them  up.  All 
emulations  which  are  not  grating  and  bitter,  and  which  are 
confined  within  reasonable  bounds,  are  perfectly  right  and 
wholesome  ;  and  if  churches  filled  with  those  that  love  God 
and  their  fellow-men  are  affiliated,  you  will  notice  that  the 
moment  they  rise  to  a  higher  plane  the  spirit  of  rivalry  will 
cease  among  them.  When  on  an  occasion  of  special  interest, 
as  during  a  revival  of  religion,  you  bring  together  in  a  great 
public  meeting  members  of  all  the  Christian  churches,  and 
let  them  sing  and  pray  together,  you  will  see  that  all  their 
repulsions  and  divisions  in  an  instant  fade  out.  The  heart- 
experiences  of  Christian  men  affiliate  them,  and  bring  them 
by  elective  affinity  into  a  moral  likeness.  Those  inspirations 
and  relationships  which  belong  to  men's  coarser  and  lower 
life  become  more  influential  when  men  are  in  a  backslid- 
den state,  and  make  them  sectarian ;  but  the  higher  inspira- 
tions and  relationships  always  make  them  free  and  large- 
minded. 

I  remark,  once  more,  that  this  sense  of  higher  relation- 
ship, as  found  in  the  actual  interplay  of  the  higher  faculties, 
or  of  the  faculties  in  their  higher  conditions,  is  a  kind  of 
fore-token  of  the  relationships  in  our  future  home,  and  casts 
upon  the  dreaded  fact  of  dying  a  cheer  which  it  much  needs, 
and  which  it  seldom  has.  The  joy  of  the  other  life  is  not 
simply  that  we  are  saved.  He  is  living  on  a  very  low  plane 


160  SOUL-RELATIONSHIP. 

who  thinks  that  salvation  is  all  that  is  to  be  thought  of,  and 
who  is  satisfied  with  just  escaping  damnation. 

If  I  go  to  Europe  on  a  steamship  (as  I  shall  not !),  my  idea 
of  going  on  a  pleasure  voyage  there,  is  to  make  a  prosperous 
passage  right  straight  across,  and  wake  up  some  morning,  and 
see  the  crew  gathered  together  on  deck,  and  see  the  blue  line 
of  the  land  stretched  out  before  us.  The  sweetest  sight  that 
my  eye  ever  rested  on  was  the  coast  of  old  Ireland  when  1 
first  went  toward  the  shores  of  Europe.  The  sea  was  be- 
hind me,  and  the  land  was  before  me,  and  its  breath  came  off 
to  where  I  was,  and  I  smelt  the  summer  of  the  soil.  I  never 
knew  how  good  it  was  before.  And  I  went  up  the  channel, 
clear  round  to  Liverpool,  rejoicing  at  every  head-land  and 
sail,  and  entered  the  harbor  and  cast  anchor  triumphantly. 
So  one  wants  to  make  a  voyage.  But  if,  in  making  a  voyage, 
one  founders  off  the  coast,  and  the  ship  goes  down,  and  other 
passengers  go  down,  and  he  swims  for  his  life,  and  is  caught 
up  by  a  fisherman's  boat,  half  spent  and  almost  insensible, 
and  is  brought  into  some  squalid  fishing  station,  and  is  re- 
stored to  life  again,  and  wakes  up  to  the  consciousness  that 
he  has  had  a  little  bad  brandy  poured  into  his  mouth,  and  in 
his  bewilderment  asks,  "  Where  am  I  ?"  and  is  told  that  he  is 
in  "  la  belle  France,"  he  says,  "  Well,  it  is  better  to  have 
landed  here  under  these  circumstances  than  not  to  have 
landed  at  all;  but  it  is  not  exactly  as  I  expected  that  it 
would  be." 

Now,  a  great  many  men  come  to  feel  about  so  in  regard  to 
getting  to  heaven.  If  at  last  they  can  be  pulled  in,  so  that 
when  the  gate  is  shut  they  are  inside,  that  is  all  they  care 
about.  If  they  can  get  in  somehow  they  will  be  satisfied.  It 
is  a  base,  selfish,  animal  desire,  just  to  wish  to  be  rid  of 
pain.  There  is  no  inspiration  in  it.  There  is  no  nobleness 
in  it.  There  is  in  it  no  sense  of  what  it  is  to  be  a  son  of 
God. 

Now,  I  look  forward  to  the  other  life,  and  to  dying,  not 
as  to  the  putting  a  screen  between  me  and  every  possible  dan- 
ger. It  is  that,  and  I  appreciate  it  in  this  lower  sense ;  but 
it  is  also  that  I  am  to  be  in  the  general  assembly  of  the 
church  of  the  first-bom' ;  it  is  that  I  am  to  come  into  blessed 


SOUL-RELATIONSHIP.  161 

acquaintanceship  and  fellowship  with  the  noblest  men  who 
have  lived  on  the  earth  since  it  had  an  existence  ;  it  is  that  I 
am  to  go  where  is  Father,  where  is  Jesus  my  elder  Brother ;  it 
is  that  I  am  to  be  in  the  presence  of  the  nobility  of  the  uni- 
verse ;  it  is  that  I  am  to  stand  in  that  glorious  company 
where  my  children  shall  see  me,  and  your  children  shall  see 
you.  My  father  and  mother  are  there,  and  your  father  and 
mother  are  there.  My  brethren  and  companions  are  there, 
and  so  are  yours.  A  great  company  from  out  of  this  church 
are  there  ;  and  how  much  purer  and  more  worthy  of  being 
remembered  with  a  burning  memory  of  love  and  sympathy 
are  they  now  than  when  they  were  in  our  midst ! 

Do  you  believe  in  the  communion  of  the  saints  ?  Do  you 
believe  that  the  saints  above  are  in  sympathy  with  the  great 
multitude  of  saints  that  are  on  earth  ?  Do  you  believe  that 
because  they  have  gone  out  of  sight  they  are  lost  ?  Do  you 
think,  because  they  have  risen  to  a  spiritual  realization  of  the 
eternal  sphere,  that  they  are  no  more  yours  ?  The  sound,  the 
noise,  the  uproar,  of  this  life  is  but  the  world's  hand  that 
beats  time  to  us  as  we  are  moving  on  toward  the  real  life,  and 
the  real  heaven,  where  God  brings  together  those  who  are  fit 
to  live  in  all  the  elective  affinities  of  a  true  spiritual  man- 
hood. 

Christian  brethren,  tear  away  the  crape  from  your  doors. 
Take  the  black  off  from  your  persons.  Look  cheerfully  upon 
death.  Make  the  tomb  bright  and  beautiful.  All  the  steps 
which  lead  to  it  are  full  of  hope. 

When  men  know  that  they  are  coming  to  riches,  the 
tokens  of  increasing  abundance  do  not  distress  them ;  and 
why  are  yon  distressed  because  your  hair  is  white  ?  Why  do 
you  mourn  because  your  eyesight  is  failing?  Why  are  you 
made  unhappy  because  your  hand  begins  to  shake  ?  Why  do 
you  lament  because  old  age  is  creeping  upon  you  ?  These 
signs  of  infirmity  all  betoken  your  approach  to  the  blessed 
land  above. 

How  can  the  chestnut  drop  its  fruit  unless  the  burr  ia 
some  way  is  made  to  open  ?  And  so  the  frcet  bites  the  burr, 
and  lets  out  the  nut,  that  it  may  come  to  life  again.  And 
how  shall  we  be  liberated  from  the  restrictions  and  hindrances 


162  SOUL-RELATIONSHIP. 

of  this  life  if  there  is  not  something  to  open  the  burr  and  let 
out  the  spirit  ? 

These  tokens  of  decadence  in  us,  if  we  read  them  in  the 
light  of  the  higher  life,  are  but  the  approaching  steps  of 
deliverance. 

A  man  that  for  twenty  years  has  been  endungeoned,  under 
the  old  government  of  Kome,  to-morrow  is  to  see  the  light  of 
day.  All  night  he  cannot  sleep,  for  thinking  how  the  world 
will  look  to  him.  In  the  morning,  afar  off  his  ear  detects  the 
sound  of  tramping  in  the  court-yard,  and  hears  some  gate 
creak  and  crash  back,  and  the  key  turn  in  the  rusty  lock. 
Nearer,  he  hears  the  long  unused  bolt  of  some  huge  door, 
with  much  pains  pulled  back,  and  the  iron  clashing  which  is 
caused  by  opening  and  shutting  it.  Now  he  hears  voices ; 
and  they  come  nearer;  and  at  last  the  key  is  put  into  the 
door  of  his  own  cell,  and  it  turns  in  the  lock,  and  the  bolt 
falls  back,  and  the  jailor  comes  in  with  his  companions, 
bringing  a  rescript  of  liberty,  and  all  the  implements  by 
which  his  chains  shall  be  taken  off.  And  does  a  man  sit  and 
cower  and  cry  and  shrink  because  he  is  being  liberated,  as 
you  do  lest  death  shall  set  you  free  ? 

All  these  tokens  of  approaching  dissolution  are  to  be 
hailed  with  joy  by  those  who  believe  that  Christ,  who  rose 
from  the  dead,  will  bring  us,  by  a  glorious  resurrection, 
from  the  dead,  and  that  this  resurrection  is  not  a  resur- 
rection of  the  body  (flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  king- 
dom of  God),  but  that  it  is  a  resurrection  of  the  spirit,  by 
which  the  soul  shall  be  lifted  out  of  these  earthly  training 
conditions,  and  brought  into  a  state  of  freedom ;  so  that 
turning  whichever  way  you  may,  in  all  the  universe  of  God, 
you  shall  meet  not  one  stranger,  and  shall  hear  voices  sweeter 
than  any  music  on  earth,  and  the  heart  shall  say,  "  I  am  no 
longer  a  stranger  or  a  foreigner  ;  I  am  with  God,  and  Christ, 
and  the  good  men  of  every  age,  my  parents  and  children,  and 
companions  all ;"  and  the  thought  wreathes  itself  as  fragrance 
about  me  ;  and  I  say,  "  Why  did  I  fear  and  push  from  me 
the  beatitude  and  blessedness  of  my  real  life  ?  " 

0  aged  matron  !  rejoice  in  your  growing  infirmities  ;  the 
jailor  is  drawing  nearer  and  nearer  to  let  you  out.  0  vencr- 


SOUL-RELATIONSHIP.  163 

able  father  !  tremble  on,  and  rejoice  that  the  way  is  almost 
passed  over,  and  that  every  one  of  the  infirmities  of  this  life 
shall  be  left  behind,  and  that  your  manhood  shall  be  as  en- 
during as  the  throne  of  God.  0  child,  fear  not  to  go. 
Fear  not,  maiden,  to  depart.  The  joys  that  you  leave  behind 
you,  compared  to  the  joys  to  which  you  go,  are  as  the  poor 
flowers  of  the  wilderness  compared  with  the  flowers  that 
blossom  in  a  garden. 

And  when  those  have  gone  out  of  life  who  were  dear  to 
you,  do  not  look  upon  death  timidly,  or  as  a  man  of  unfaith 
looks  upon  it,  with  blank  despair.  Remember  that  you  have 
sent  your  children  and  friends  into  the  relationships  and 
plenitude  of  love,  where  all  shall  be  one  in  Christ  Jesus, 
blessed  and  blessing  forever. 


164  SOUL-RELATIONSHIP. 


PRAYEK  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

THOTT  dost  not  wait,  our  Father,  for  our  petitions.  It  is  not  for  thy 
Bake  that  we  draw  near  and  pray  to  thee,  but  for  our  own.  We  are 
glad  that  thou  art  patient  to  listen  and  willing  that  we  should  draw 
near  to  thee.  That  thou  shouldst  desire  it  is  because  thou  art  a 
Father;  and  we  know  how  fathers  feel  toward  their  children.  Even 
with  their  imperfections  and  faults,  how  does  their  love  bathe  them, 
and  clothe  them,  and  perfect  them !  And  in  thy  sight  we  can  only 
stand  approved  in  the  atmosphere  and  prophecy  of  thy  love — in  that 
which  we  are,  and  are  to  be,  through  thy  grace. 

So  we  draw  near  in  prayer,  not  in  a  meager,  poverty-stricken  way, 
as  if  we  were  beggars,  and  as  though  thou  neededst  to  be  persuaded 
and  informed  :  we  come  knowing  how  generous  thou  art,  how  affluent 
thou  art,  and  knowing  that  such  a  nature  as  thine,  of  sympathy  and 
perfection,  stands  quick  and  ready  to  pour  forth  blessings.  We 
rejoice  that  even  in  the  asking  we  are  supplied  and  over-supplied, 
not  alone  in  the  things  which  we  ask,  if  they  be  possible,  but  in  other 
things  multitudinous.  We  rejoice,  O  Lord,  that  thy  gifts  are  so  plen- 
tiful and  so  wonderful  in  their  variety.  If,  being  sick,  we  sigh  for 
the  wind  to  blow  that  it  may  cool  our  cheek,  blowing,  it  also  lifts  the 
leaves,  wafts  fragrance  through  the  air,  and  cheers  a  thousand  others; 
bringing  a  multitude  of  mercies  that  are  not  thought  of;  and  so  the 
breath  which  thou  dost  breathe  upon  our  souls  briugeth  not  alone 
what  we  ask,  but  innumerable  other  things.  Sitting  central  as  thou 
dost  in  the  midst  of  all  divine  influences,  and  pouring  forth  life  every- 
where, how  canst  thou  turn  thyself  every  whither,  and  bestow  thy 
grace  upon  all!  We  rejoice  in  thy  sovereignty.  We  rejoice  in  the 
creativeness  of  thy  love.  We  rejoice  that  we  are  all  called  to  thee 
not  to  be  ranked  among  animals.  We  rejoice  that  there  is  that  in  us 
which  reaches  far  above  the  flesh  into  the  unknown,  and  touches 
God,  and  is  touched  by  him,  and  is  yet  to  be  fashioned  into  the  divine 
likeness  perfectly,  as  now  it  is  rudely  and  imperfectly.  And  in  this 
hope  we  desire  to  live  above  the  world  while  we  are  in  it,  and  are 
using  it,  and  are  seeking  another  and  a  better  land.  We  pray  that 
we  may  live  in  ennobling  thoughts  of  thee,  and  labor  for  the  work- 
ing of  thy  Spirit,  and  thy  divine  love  in  every  soul.  Cleanse  us,  we 
pray  thee,  from  pride  and  vanity,  and  all  hindering  passions ;  from 
all  outward  faults;  from  temptations  that  overtake  us;  from  easily 
besetting  sins;  from  habits  imperfectly  controlled.  Grant  that  we 
may  become  free  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  turn  sensitively  toward  things 
which  are  good,  and  with  an  irresistible  attraction  towards  thee. 
and  away  from  things  that  are  dark  and  sluggish,  and  cold  and  hate- 
ful, sin-bred  and  filled  with  misery. 

We  pray,  O  Lord,  that  thou  wilt  draw  near,  this  morning,  to  those 
in  thy  presence  who  need  thee  by  reason  of  any  special  dealings  of 
thy  providence  with  them.  Are  they  children  of  joy  by  reason  of  the 
overflowing  of  thy  goodness?  Then  may  their  joy  lift  them  up,  and 
not  make  them  selfish.  May  the  prosperity  of  those  who,  this  morn- 
ing, rejoice  in  alertness  of  spirit  and  good  cheer  be  consecrated  in 


SOUL-RELATIONSHIP.  165 

thanksgiving  and  praise.  May  those  who  have,  through  thy  good- 
ness, achieved  the  ends  which  they  have  long  sought,  rejoice  because 
they  can  associate  thy  foresight  and  guardianship  with  all  the  stages 
through  which  they  have  come.  May  it  be  a  thing  to  be  rejoiced 
over,  that  by  God's  great  help  we  live  from  day  to  day  and  achieve 
successfully  the  tasks  of  life. 

Be  with  those  who  are  in  the  midst  of  not  unwelcome  trials  and 
troubles ;  be  with  those  who  are  manfully  bearing  this  world's  bur- 
dens ;  performing  its  duties ;  venturing  the  things  that  are  to  be  ven- 
tured. May  all  acquit  themselves  as  men,  gird  up  their  loins,  and 
never  faint.  Taught  of  thee,  and  day  by  day  receiving  fresh  supplies 
from  thy  unwasting  Spirit,  may  they  go  on  courageously  in  the  work 
which  thou  hast  imposed  upon  them.  May  they  this  day  have  the 
divine  blessing  and  impulse  resting  upon  them.  We  pray  that  more 
and  more  they  may  be  able  to  consecrate  their  powers  and  endeavors 
to  the  welfare  of  men,  and  to  the  honor  and  glory  of  God. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  draw  near  to  any  who  are  weak ; 
to  any  who  are  sick;  to  any  who  are  in  the  gloom  of  trouble.  Wilt 
thou  irradiate  their  room,  if  they  be  hindered  from  comine  to  the 
sanctuary.  Wilt  thou  be  with  them  wherever  they  watch,  and  wher- 
ever they  wait.  Grant  that  they  may  easily  open  their  arms,  forth 
from  which  are  to  go  God's  angels,  lent  to  them  for  a  little  while. 

Draw  near,  our  Father,  to  all  who  are  poor  and  who  are  suffering 
from  the  mischiefs,  and  cares,  and  anxieties  which  befall  them. 
Grant  that  though  they  are  poor  outwardly,  they  may  be  rich  of 
heart,  and  that  they  may  trust  in  the  divine  bounty,  though  they 
seem  withheld  from  human  bounty.  May  they  be  sustained,  know- 
ing that  they  are  pilgrims  and  strangers  here,  and  that  it  will  be  but 
a  little  while  ere  they  will  go  hence.  May  their  faith  not  fail  them. 
May  they  not  suffer  from  double  poverty — without  and  within. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  thy  blessing  upon  the  young.  We 
thank  thee  that  there  are  so  many  who  are  being  nurtured  in  the 
Lord.  Grant  that  those  that  are  in  our  midst  may  grow  up  to  all 
manliness;  to  truth;  to  fidelity;  to  industry;  to  frugality;  to  tem- 
perance in  all  things;  to  purity  of  thought  and  feeling;  to  all  noble 
ambitious ;  to  the  lore  of  mankind ;  to  the  love,  and  reverence,  and 
obedience  of  God. 

Bless  our  schools.  Bless  those  who  superintend  or  minister  there- 
in. Bless  the  teachers  and  officers  of  these  schools.  And  we  pray 
that  it  may  not  be  the  "knowledge  of  the  letter  alone,  but  also  thnl 
knowledge  that  maketh  wise  unto  salvation,  that  shall  be  imparted 
and  received.  We  thank  thee  for  so  much  success  as  has  been  grant- 
ed to  these  little  assemblies.  May  thy  Spirit,  with  its  ever-quicken- 
ing power,  abide  in  their  midst. 

We  pray  for  thy  blessing  upon  all  those  who  go  forth  to  make 
known  the  unsearchable  riches  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  in 
the  waste  places,  in  the  by-ways,  among  the  poor  and  sick,  along  our 
wharves,  in  jails,  and  prisons,  and  poor-houses.  May  those  who  have 
volunteered  to  cheer  the  unfortunate,  and  degraded,  and  desolate, 
be  filled  with  the  very  Spirit  and  with  the  abundant  blessings  of  the 
Lord  their  Master  whom  they  imitate. 


166  SOUL-RELATIONSHIP. 

Bless,  O  Lord,  the  churches  of  this  city,  and  of  our  whole  land, 
that  are  working  for  thy  cause.  Be  pleased  to  bless  the  President 
of  these  United  States,  and  those  who  are  joined  with  him  in  author- 
ity, and  the  Congress  assembled.  Grant  that  all  their  counselings 
may  be  wise,  inspired  and  overruled  for  the  furtherance  of  thine 
own  purposes.  Bless  the  Legislatures  of  the  different  States,  the 
courts,  the  judges,  the  magistrates,  and  all  rulers.  Grant  that  the 
citizens  may  live  obedient  lives;  that  intelligence  and  morality  may 
prevail;  that  the  hearts  of  this  people  may  more  and  more  cleave 
together;  and  that  there  may  be  essential  unity  throughout  the 
entire  nation. 

Nor  do  we  pray  selfishly  for  ourselves  alone.  May  thy  bounties 
become  universal.  May  those  jealousies  cease  which  have  sepa- 
rated nations  so  long,  and  those  angry  passions  which  have  dashed 
one  upon  another.  May  the  day  come  when  there  shall  be  the  true 
fellowship  of  a  true  brotherhood.  May  men  rise  to  a  higher  plane  of 
life.  May  men  seek  after  the  things  which  shall  strengthen,  and  not 
for  the  things  that  shall  weaken  one  another.  May  all  ignorance 
and  superstition  disappear;  may  the  lower  feelings  cease  to  rule; 
may  the  Spirit  of  God  with  all  wisdom  dwell  with  all  mankind,  and 
this  world  become  as  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

And  to  thy  name  shall  be  the  praise,  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit. 
Amen. 


PEAYEE  APTEE  THE  SEEMOK 

OTTB  Father,  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  take  away  from  us  the  shadow 
which  overhangs  the  bright  and  blessed  valley  through  which  we 
seek  thee.  Bring  us  at  last,  we  pray  thee,  to  some  faith  in  thy  truth. 
O  how  long  shall  the  heavens  drop  down  upon  us  promises!  How 
long  shall  thy  words  be  in  our  ears  not  understood  ?  How  long  to  the 
dumb  and  to  the  deaf  shall  they  call  from  off  the  walls  of  heaven, 
saying,  Come?  How  long  shall  we  believe  in  things  which  belong  to 
the  body,  and  not  in  things  which  belong  to  the  soul  ?  Blessed  Spirit, 
give  to  us  something  of  our  birthright ;  something  of  the  vision  that 
belongs  to  us ;  and  grant  that  our  sorrows,  which  have  so  surged 
about  us  in  the  past,  may,  at  the  coming  of  Christ,  be  assuaged. 
Grant  that  our  disappointed  hopes  may  seem  to  be  grafted  on  a  bet- 
ter and  more  enduring  stalk  in  the  other  life.  May  we  rise  up  and 
set  our  affection  on  things  above,  where  Christ  sitteth,  on  the  right 
hand  of  God,  and  not  on  things  upon  the  earth.  Wilt  thou  bless  us, 
now,  for  the  rest  of  this  day,  and  prepare  us  for  its  events,  and  for 
thy  kingdom  at  last,  through  riches  of  grace  in  Christ  Jesus.  Amen. 


CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS. 


'•  Rejoicing  in  hope;  patient  in  tribulation ;  continuing  instant  in 
prayer."— ROMANS  xii.  12. 


This  may  be  called  a  maxim  of  life,  or  a  very  brief,  con- 
densed charter  of  happiness. 

Joy  is  not  a  faculty  ;  it  is  a  quality  of  action,  or  a  mood 
which  may  belong  to  any  or  to  all  of  the  faculties  of  the 
human  soul.  There  is  a  double  action,  both  of  the  physical 
organization  and  of  the  mental.  The  nerve  that  is  in  health, 
and  is  directed  according  to  its  own  nature,  responds  pleas- 
antly and  joyfully.  If  it  be  in  unhealth,  or  if  it  be  directed 
contrary  to  its  nature,  it  has  the  inverse  power — that  of  the 
infliction  of  pain.  Properly  speaking,  pain  is  a  quality  of 
the  body;  suffering  is  a  term  which  designates  pain  of  the 
mind. 

In  respect  to  the  faculties  of  the  soul,  in  one  way  their 
action  inspires  enjoyment.  If  they  be  violated,  or  if  they  be 
wrongly  coupled,  or  apportioned,  or  dealt  with,  then  they 
have  the  power  of  producing  suffering. 

Now,  pain  or  suffering,  whether  it  be  of  the  body  or  of 
the  mind,  is  not  primary.  It  is  not  the  end  for  which  the 
body  and  the  mind  were  created.  It  is  cautionary,  alterna- 
tive, remedial.  Pain  bears  to  the  body,  and  suffering  bears 
to  the  mind,  the  same  relation  which  medicine  bears  to  the 
physical  system.  It  is  not  food.  It  is  that  which  is  taken 
for  the  purpose  of  restoring  health  where  it  ia  impaired. 
And  pain  or  suffering  is  either  cautionary,  indicating  that  we 

SUNDAY  MORNING,  May  3, 1374.    I.ESSON  :  Eph.  i.  11-23;  1L 1-7.    HTITNS  (Plymouth 
Collection):  Nog.  217.  922. 


170  CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS. 

are  going  wrong ;  or  remedial,  to  bring  us  back  from  wrong 
ways ;  or  educational,  to  inspire  us  to  a  higher  development 
of  life. 

Joy  is  normal,  or  it  is  that  which  best  becomes  every 
faculty.  It  is  the  response  which  we  have  a  right  to  seek, 
and  which  we  have  a  right  to  expect,  from  every  faculty  of 
the  human  soul.  In  us,  as  imperfect  beings,  working  up- 
ward, suffering  is  needful ;  but  the  needfulness  of  it  is  a  sign 
of  our  inferiority,  of  our  limitation,  of  our  defects ;  and  all 
forms  of  discipline,  all  self-denials,  all  cross-bearings,  all 
cares  and  burdens  and  griefs,  are  signs  of  relative  imperfec- 
tion. And  they  are  not  to  bo  despised.  Nor  are  we  to 
suppose  that  any  man  in  this  life — at  any  rate,  until  the  later 
periods  of  it — will  escape  suffering  and  pain.  It  is  one  thing 
to  regard  pain  and  suffering  as  secondary,  and  instrumental 
to  a  higher  purpose ;  it  is  another  thing  to  think  that  they 
are  legitimate  things  to  be  sought  as  if  they  were  good  in 
themselves. 

The  ideal  of  perfectness  is  that  of  the  mind  acting  in  a 
mood  so.  high  that  there  is  pleasure  in  all  its  action.  Pleas- 
ure is  the  testimony  of  any  faculty  that  it  is  acting  in  health 
and  aright. 

Now,  is  Christianity  to  be  a  pain  or  a  pleasure  ? — I  mean 
ideal  Christianity.  Is  religion  to  be  a  paean,  as  of  victory,  or 
a  requiem,  as  of  defeat  ?  Is  it  set  to  the  key  of  joy  or  to  the 
key  of  sadness  ?  In  reading  the  New  Testament  promiscu- 
ously, you  will  find  that  both  things  are  continuously  recog- 
nized— namely,  the  certainty  of  suffering,  and  of  exaltation 
by  suffering.  You  will  find  also  that  the  New  Testament  is 
full  and  overflowing  with  the  idea  of  joy  and  rejoicing.  It 
becomes  a  question,  therefore,  of  rank  or  gradation  :  Which 
is  characteristic — joy  or  pain  and  suffering  ?  Suffering  and 
pain  are  characteristic  of  an  imperfect  condition ;  and  all 
right  enjoyments  are  characteristic  of  growing  perfectness, 
or  of  a  tendency  toward  perfection.  Joy  is  a  sign  of  health 
and  virtue  and  holiness.  Sorrow  is  a  sign  that  we  are  taking 
medicine  for  the  sake  of  health,  but  that  we  have  not  yet 
reached  health. 

Keligion  may  therefore  be  a  mere  yoke,  or  it  may  be  a 


CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS.  171 

freedom  from  bondage.  It  may  be,  like  a  tune,  set  either  to 
the  major  or  to  the  minor  key.  It  may  be  played  slow,  and 
therefore  it  may  be  dull ;  or  it  may  be  rendered  with  a  spark- 
ling effect.  The  popular  idea  of  religion  is  on  the  whole 
dolorous.  It  is  very  much  a  commercial  transaction.  "We 
pay  a  certain  amount  of  sorrow  here  for  the  sake  of  getting  a 
dividend  of  joy  hereafter.  We  are  willing  to  give  up  a  great 
many  things  which  are  good  and  desirable  now  for  the  sake  of 
receiving  an  equivalent,  or  more  than  an  equivalent,  by  and 
by.  People  who  are  exhorted  to  become  Christians  feel  that 
they  are  called  from  liberty  to  circumscription.  From  the 
great  world,  with  all  its  ambitions  and  freedoms  and  pleni- 
tudes and  excitements,  to  a  strait  and  narrow  way  of  the 
church  in  which  they  are  to  be  children  of  hours,  and  days, 
and  methods,  and  ordinances,  and  deprivations.  To  be  a 
Christian  seems  to  most  people  as  my  condition  used  to  seem 
when  I  was  forbidden  the  street,  and  the  fields,  and  the  forest, 
and  the  whole  round  of  nature,  and  was  told  that  I  must  not 
go  out  of  the  door-yard.  "  You  may  play  in  the  door-yard, 
but  you  must  not  go  outside  of  it,"  it  was  said  to  me  ;  and  I 
remember  how  wistfully  I  used  to  look  down  the  street  and 
see  the  boys  playing  in  their  freedom.  I  recollect  how  crazily 
I  heard  the  drum  and  fife  on  military  training  days,  and 
caught  glimpses  of  the  red  coats  as  they  marched  to  and  fro 
down  town.  How  these  things  used  to  stir  my  imagination  ! 
and  how  it  grieved  me  that  I,  a  poor  little  boy,  was  shut  up 
there  in  the  door-yard,  and  made  to  behave  myself! 

There  are  many  who  think  that  being  in  the  church  is 
being  in  the  Lord's  door-yard,  and  not  being  allowed  to  go 
outside  of  the  gate,  and  play  with  bad  boys,  nor  to  roam  in 
the  forests.  I  do  not  so  regard  it.  To  be  a  child  of  religion 
is  to  be  like  a  bird  taken  out  of  its  cage,  let  loose,  and  taught 
how  to  fly  through  all  the  air,  and  in  the  branches  of  every 
tree.  It  is  to  be  a  soul  taken  out  of  its  prison-house,  and 
given  its  liberty,  and  taught  how  to  use  it.  There  is  no  man 
so  fit  to  live  a  religious  life  as  he  whose  soul  has  derived  free- 
dom from  his  God. 

Religion,  as  presented  to  the  world,  has  gone  through  very 
many  moods.  There  have  been  periods  of  the  world  in  which 


172  CHRISTIAN  JOYFTTLNESS. 

religion  was  presented  in  its  ascetic  form.  It  is  so  presented 
in  some  quarters  at  the  present  day.  In  other  words,  because 
pain  has  been  constantly  an  instrument  and  part  of  discipline, 
men  have  deified  it.  Self-denial,  mortification  of  the  flesh, 
and  the  crucifixion  of  lusts — to  these,  undue  emphasis  has 
been  given.  Religion  has  been  preached  as  though  the  more 
pain,  the  more  virtue ;  as  though  the  more  self-denial,  the 
more  Christian  development.  The  ascetic  school  has  dam- 
aged Christianity  exceedingly.  There  is  still,  in  the  popular 
notions  of  religion,  and  in  much  of  the  teaching  which  pre- 
vails on  the  subject  of  religion,  this  vitiating  element  of 
asceticism,  which  makes  pain  and  suffering  a  part  of  it :  not 
an  education  toward  it,  but  an  element  belonging  to  its  very 
substance. 

Then,  as  a  shade  removed  from  that,  after  openly  avowed 
asceticism  had  been  measurably  rejected,  there  came  up  a 
school  that  held  what  may  be  called  the  sober,  solemn  view  ; 
and  religion  has  been  preached  as  a  grand  sobriety,  as  a  mag- 
nificent solemnity ;  and  men  have  been  taught  to  have  such 
a  sense  of  the  dangers  of  the  future,  and  of  the  awful  respon- 
sibilities which  are  laid  upon  them  in  view  of  the  risks  of 
the  future,  that  they  have  maintained  to  the  utmost  a  sober 
and  solemn  aspect. 

Now  there  are  hours  for  solemnity,  there  are  hours  for 
sobriety ;  but  to  characterize  religion  by  sobriety  or  solemnity 
is  as  if  a  man  should  characterize  nature  by  comparing  it 
with  the  night  instead  of  the  day ;  or  as  if  a  man  should 
point  out  caves,  gorges,  and  the  shadows  of  trees,  and  say, 
"  These  are  the  emphatic  things."  Which  is  the  most,  the 
tree  or  the  shadow  that  it  casts  ? 

If  you  will  read  the  New  Testament,  you  will  find  that  it 
constantly  recognizes  the  reality  of  suffering,  and  that  it 
gives  a  deep  undertone  of  solemnity  to  it ;  but  after  all,  let 
one  read  the  New  Testament,  and  he  will  find  joy  the  regnant 
quality.  The  word  joy,  if  you  take  your  Concordance  and 
look  for  it,  you  will  find  to  be  as  thick  on  its  pages  as  the 
dandelions  will  be  in  a  week  in  the  meadows.  The  New  Tes- 
tament fairly  sparkles  with  a  conception  of  joyfulness. 

Then  there  is  a  view  of   Christianity  which  continually 


CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS.  173 

makes  conscience  the  vital  point.  So  men  are  self-studious. 
They  are  all  the  time  intently  watching  and  judging  them- 
selves. They  are  under  an  anxious  fear  lest  they  shall  violate 
conscience.  There  is  a  tension  of  their  mind  which  prevents 
much  naturalness  or  freedom  in  their  lives.  It  is  compre- 
hended in  the  general  phrase,  a  sense  of  responsibility. 

Now  conscience  is  a  foundation  quality.  There  are  a 
great  many  qualities  which  are  indispensable,  but  which  are 
not  lovely  when  they  are  constantly  projected  into  the  fore- 
ground. Conscience  is  to  a  man's  mind  what  bones  are  to 
his  body.  Bones  are  good  things  when  they  are  well 
covered  up  ;  but  they  are  very  ghastly  things  when  they  are 
bare.  Many  Christians  are  like  skeletons  that  show  nothing 
but  bones  ;  and  they  talk  much  of  conscience,  and  the  awful 
duties  and  responsibilities  which  are  imposed  upon  them. 
These  are  specimens  of  osteology  which  ought  to  be  excluded 
from  the  sanctuary.  Love  is  mightier  than  conscience,  and 
joy  is  the  result  of  both  love  and  conscience.  Conscience  is 
the  bones,  love  is  the  nerves,  and  joy  is  that  which  gives 
color  to  the  whole. 

There  are  false  views  of  life  growing  out  of  these  imper- 
fect, erroneous  presentations  of  Christianity.  Look,  for 
instance,  at  the  tracts  which  are  distributed  on  the  subject 
of  religion.  I  can  understand  how  about  one  half  of  these 
tracts,  if  a  man  was  only  sick,  in  a  morbid  condition,  dis- 
couraged, shut  up  in  a  comer,  might  lead  him  toward  a 
religious  life ;  but  if  a  man  is  in  good  health,  in  the  full 
p?rformance  of  life's  real  duties,  joyous  and  happy,  I  can 
hardly  understand  how  he  could  have  a  greater  damp  thrown 
upon  him  than  half  the  religious  tracts  which  are  thrown 
around  among  men.  The  best  thing  about  them  is  that 
nobody  reads  them.  Look  at  the  pious  books  which  are  sent 
forth  through  communities.  See  how  almost  entirely  they 
run  upon  the  minor  key.  See  how  shadowy  they  are.  See 
how  little  there  is  in  them  that  cheers,  inspires,  and  comforts 
the  soul. 

Now,  religion  gives  to  us  the  largest  manhood  possible.  By 
it  we  are  brought  out  of  lower  conditions,  and  out  of  all 
manner  of  circumscriptions.  The  aim  of  true  Christianity 


174  CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS. 

is  to  double  and  quadruple  the  power  of  a  man,  his  versatil- 
ity, his  liberty,  his  scope  of  thought,  his  power  of  imagina- 
tion, his  resources  of  emotion,  and  in  general  the  magnitude, 
the  soundness,  and  the  joyfulness  of  his  life.  It  does  not 
simply  promise  this  hereafter ;  its  object  is  to  produce  it  here  ; 
and  the  work,  being  begun  here,  is  to  be  carried  on  and  up. 
and  is  to  be  consummated  hereafter. 

The  New  Testament  never  once  propounds  a  theory  of  this 
or  any  kind  ;  but  it  never  strikes  a  false  or  mistaken  note  in 
its  practical  directions.  It  is  one  of  the  noticeable  things  to 
those  who  look  into  this  matter,  that  long  before  the  science 
of  the  mind  was  studied,  practical  instruction  was  given  as 
to  the  education  and  conduct  of  the  human  soul — instruction 
which  reached  further  forward  than  our  senses  can  under- 
stand. And  when  mental  philosophy  shall  be  evolved,  by 
the  help  of  physiology ;  when  we  shall  have  sought  out  and 
searched  to  the  bottom  the  whole  theory  of  the  mind,  the 
New  Testament  will  be  better  understood  and  appreciated 
than  it  is  now  ;  for  its  practical  directions  which  imply  men- 
tal philosophy,  but  which  have  never  been  fully  disclosed  to 
the  world,  will  then  be  made  known  in  all  their  bearings. 

If,  then,  joyfulness  is  the  mood  of  life  ;  if  suffering  is  but 
alternative  and  disciplinary ;  and  if  joy,  not  in  the  form  of 
ecstacy,  but  in  its  higher  and  more  wholesome  form,  belongs 
to  man's  normal  condition,  then,  in  the  first  place,  the  ques- 
tion is  not  whether  we  shall  not  sometimes  have  pain,  but 
whether,  our  souls  coming  into  commerce  with  the  soul  of 
God,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  overcome  suffering  by  the  power 
of  true  Christianity.  It  must  be  that  we  shall  suffer.  The 
Master  was  made  perfect  through  suffering,  as  well  as 
through  joy.  By  the  joys  which  were  set  before  him  he  was 
enabled  to  rise  through  suffering  into  the  amplitude  of  joy. 
I  take  it  that  in  the  earlier  periods  of  his  life,  with  some  few 
exceptions,  our  Lord  was  supremely  happy.  He  is  called 
"The  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief,"  in  the 
prophecies  ;  but  judging  from  his  history  as  given  in  the 
New  Testament,  I  take  it  that  though  there  were  instances 
in  which  he  endured  great  suffering,  yet,  for  the  most  part 
his  life  was  one  of  transcendent  enjoyment.  I  believe  that 


CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS.  175 

he  was  one  of  the  most  genial  and  enjoyable  men  that  ever 
walked  in  old  Jewry. 

We  are  to  have  sorrow  and  suffering ;  but  we  are  not  to 
wear  them  as  garments.  It  is  for  us,  if  we  be  true  Christians, 
to  have  such  a  constant  tendency  toward  joyfulness  that 
when  sorrows  come  we  shall  be  able  to  strike  them  through 
with  the  light  and  color  of  hope. 

We  are  commanded  to  rejoice  in  hope.  Well,  rejoice  in 
substance  where  you  have  it.  Under  such  circumstances, 
however,  you  need  no  command ;  but  where  the  substance  is 
wanting,  then  rejoice  in  hope.  When  the  first  touches  of 
solemnity  or  sorrow  come,  men  are  inclined  to  brood  over 
them  ;  but  the  true  way  is  to  lift  one's  self  higher,  and  look 
through  all  the  region  round  about,  and  think  that  though 
it  is  dark  to-day,  better  times  are  coming ;  and  if  you  can- 
not tell  what  they  are,  nor  when  they  will  come,  then  rejoice 
in  hope.  "  But,"  it  is  asked,  "can  you  rejoice  in  the  hope 
of  anything  which  you  know  nothing  about  ?"  Yes.  "  I3ut 
it  may  not  come  to  pass."  Very  well,  then  you  will  have 
go  much  joy  for  nothing.  Try  it,  and  it  will  seem  so  good 
that  you  will  want  to  try  it  again,  and  every  time  you  try 
it  it  will  seem  better  and  better.  "But  suppose  troubles 
come  so  thick  and  so  sharp  that  you  cannot  rejoice  in  hope  ?" 
Then  be  patient.  Do  not  magnify  those  troubles.  Do  not 
pick  them.  Do  not  make  sores  of  pimples.  A  wholesome 
mind  rises  above  sorrows ;  and  when  they  are  gone  it  does 
not  pluck  them  back,  as  if  it  were  bound  to  be  sorrowful,  as 
if  sorrow  were  a  sacred  thing,  and  as  if  you  were  better 
for  being  steeped  in  sorrow.  You  are  better  for  having  hope- 
fulness and  joyfulness. 

It  is  not  a  question  whether  we  shall  have  conscience  and 
fear  and  reason  ;  for  in  all  our  life  we  are  obliged  to  employ 
reason,  and  experience  fear,  and  rest  upon  conscience  ;  but,  in 
what  atmosphere  shall  these  qualities  act  ?  I  have  said  that 
joy  is  not  a  faculty,  but  a  mood  ;  and  I  think  it  is  the  atmos- 
phere in  which  conscience  and  fear  and  reason  should  act. 

When  I  tell  some  persons  that  they  should  have  great  joy- 
fulness,  they  say,  "  Ah  !  you  set  aside  conscience."  No,  I  do 
not  set  it  aside  :  I  say  to  it,  "  You  are  apt  to  keep  bad  com- 


176  CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS. 

pany."  There  is  no  faculty  which  is  so  likely  to  keep  com- 
pany with  anger,  with  self-will,  with  combativeness,  and  with 
cruelty,  as  conscience.  When  a  man  wants  to  do  things  which 
are  disallowed  and  mean  and  gross,  he  generally  gets  into  his 
conscience.  If  a  man  is  ugly  and  bitter  and  hard,  you  will 
in  all  probability  find  him  intrenched  behind  his  conscience. 
When  Paul  went  to  Damascus  and  persecuted  God's  people 
even  unto  death,  he  followed  the  dictates  of  his  conscience. 

Now,  I  do  not  decry  the  conscience  ;  but  I  insist  upon  it 
that  this,  and  every  other  one  of  the  noblest  faculties,  shall 
work  in  the  spiiit  of  joyfulness,  and  not  in  the  spirit  of  fear  ; 
that  it  shall  work  toward  hope  and  light,  and  not  toward  de- 
spair and  darkness.  I  hold  that  every  man  should  come  into 
the  light  of  reason ;  but  reason  should  work  in  a  cheerful, 
and  not  in  an  ascetic  mood.  All  the  normal  faculties  of  men 
are  to  be  brought  into  full  play  ;  and  the  question  is  whether 
or  not  we  shall  have  a  reasonable  religion — a  religion  which 
leads  to  righteousness — a  religion  which  is  cheerful  and  buoy- 
ant. "  But  suppose  we  are  not  of  that  turn  of  mind  ? " 
Then  that  is  what  conversion  will  mean  in  your  case.  You 
are  to  become  of  that  turn  of  mind.  A  boy  who  'is  sent  to 
school  is  not  of  the  turn  of  mind  to  write  ;  but  by  instruction 
and  training  and  practice  he  will  come  to  it.  Few  men  are  at 
first  of  an  arithmetical  turn  of  mind  ;  but  they  will  come  to  it 
by  study  and  drill.  And  if  a  man  is  not  naturally  cheerful 
and  courageous,  he  is  to  cultivate  the  element  of  hope.  He 
is  to  mount  up  out  of  a  low  and  torpid  condition  to  the  realm 
of  true  manhood,  which  is  one  of  victorious  joy. 

It  is  not  enough,  then,  that  those  who  enter  into  the 
Christian  life  should  simply  avoid  evil  and  seek  good.  To  do 
these  things  is  a  prime  constituent  of  a  truly  manly  life  ; 
but  it  is  not  sufficient.  A  man  may  avoid  evil  in  a  low  and 
groveling  way  ;  and  a  man  may  seek  good  in  a  poor  and  pen- 
urious way. 

You  will  take  notice,  in  the  New  Testament  particularly 
(not  in  that  exclusively  :  the  same  thing  is  also  true,  in  a  less 
degree,  of  the  Old  Testament ;  for  the  New  Testament  was 
born  out  of  the  Old),  that  it  is  taught  that  it  is  not 
enough  that  men  should  follow  right  courses,  There  is 


CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS.  177 

always  an  element  of  heroism  enjoined  and  prescribed.  We 
are  not  only  to  be  holy,  but  we  are  to  have  the  "beauty 
of  holiness."  The  command  is,  "  He  that  giveth  let  him  do 
it  with  simplicity."  A  man  may  give  in  such  a  swelling  way 
that  everybody  around  about  him  shall  know  that  he  is  giv- 
ing, thus  imitating  the  barnyard,  where,  one  poor  egg  being 
laid,  the  hen  that  lays  it  cackles,  and  then  all  the  barnyard 
and  all  the  neighborhood  join  in  the  chorus.  And  yet  there 
is  a  modest  way  of  giving,  in  imitation  of  the  bird  that  lays 
its  little  egg  and  makes  ua  ado  about  it,  but  goes  off  flying 
and  singing  through  the  air.  There  is  the  barnyard  vulgar- 
ity connected  with  the  giving  of  many  men,  who  cackle  when 
they  give,  instead  of  obeying  the  injunction  to  give  "  witli 
simplicity."  The  act  of  giving  should  have  a  moral  beauty 
about  it.  It  is  not  enough  that  a  man  should  do  the  right 
thing ;  he  must  do  it  nobly,  gracefully,  resplendently.  And 
it  is  not  enough  that  the  thing  he  does  should  be  right  and 
beautiful  and  noble  and  graceful  and  resplendent :  it  should 
be  joyful.  There  is  not  an  experience  in  any  man's  life  that 
ought  not,  first  or  last,  to  sing.  No  experience  of  a  man's 
life  should  be  permitted  to  go  free  until  it  has  sung  its  song. 

Sometimes  when  the  mother  trains  the  child  it  is  sulky 
and  obstinate,  and  she  is  obliged  to  compel  it  to  do  the  right 
thing  ;  and  it  does  it  with  a  wry  face  and  a  crumpled  mouth  ; 
and  she  says,  "Now  you  must  be  good-natured,  dear;  I 
want  to  see  you  smile  ;  I  cannot  let  you  go  until  you  laugh  ;" 
and  by  and  by  its  face  clears  up,  its  naughtiness  disappears, 
and  she  says,  "Now  you  may  go;"  but  the  thing  was  not 
settled  until  all  the  malign  feelings  were  put  down,  and  the 
benign  feelings  were  made  regnant. 

It  is  not  enough,  then,  to  avoid  evil,  or  even  to  do  right ; 
the  evil  must  be  avoided,  and  the  right  must  be  done,  in  such 
a  way  that  it  shall  be  beautiful  to  men  and  pleasing  to  God. 
"Beauty  of  holiness"  means  something. 

The  attempt  to  be  joyful  by  direct  meditation  on  truths  is 
one  of  the  mistakes  which  men  fall  into  in  undertaking  to 
live  Christian  lives.  That  is  to  say,  men  know  so  little  about 
the  philosophy  of  joy  that  even  in  the  instruction  of  the 
sanctuary  where  the  right  view  is  presented,  it  is  often  hin- 


178  CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS. 

dered  by  its  limitations  and  misconstructions  and  narrowness 
of  teaching.  There  are  very  few  men  who  have  power  to 
make  themselves  happy  by  meditation.  Men  say,  "  Chris- 
tians ought  to  be  joyful  when  they  think  of  the  victory  of 
faith  and  the  glory  of  the  world  to  come,  and  when  they 
think  of  this  or  that  great  spiritual  truth."  Yes,  that  is 
certainly  so ;  but  not  one  in  a  thousand  has  the  generating 
power  of  brain  by  which  to  supply  himself  with  thoughts 
of  these  things  and  keep  them  regnant  in  life.  If  a  man 
were  joyful  only  when  he  was  thinking  technically  of  relig- 
ious truths,  he  would  not  be  joyful  much  of  the  time.  There 
are  not  many  men  whose  minds,  for  any  considerable  portion 
of  the  time,  are  or  can  be  devoted  to  religious  meditation. 

I  need  not  tell  you  that  many  religious  people  are  dis- 
agreeable. There  are  many  people  who  are  conscientious, 
and  pure-minded,  and  right-hearted,  and  whom  you  have  not 
the  least  doubt  will,  when  they  come  to  die,  triumph  and  go 
to  heaven  ;  and  yet  they  are  not  agreeable.  Children  do  not 
like  them — and  that  is  a  pretty  good  test ;  naturally  simple 
people  do  not  like  them — and  that  is  another  pretty  good  test. 
They  are  rigid.  There  is  a  want  of  elasticity  about  them. 
They  seem  stiff.  They  are  unattractive. 

Now,  if  a  man  believes  that  in  order  to  be  joyful  he  must 
always  be  thinking  about  Jerusalem  ;  that  he  must  always  be 
thinking  about  the  doctrines  of  religion  ;  that  he  must  always 
be  thinking  about  those  great  spiritual  truths  which  lie  be- 
yond the  realm  of  human  experience,  he  makes  a  capital 
mistake.  If  a  man  thinks  that  what  is  required  of  him  is 
simply  to  be  joyful  over  the  hymn-book,  in  the  conference 
meeting,  and  in  the  church  on  Sunday,  he  is  seriously  mis- 
taken. The  hymn-book,  the  conference  meeting,  and  the 
Sunday  services  are  to  yield  joy  to  those  who  can  extract  joy 
from  them  ;  but  for  the  most  part  the  trees  of  life  are  so  high 
that  little  hands  cannot  reach  up  and  pluck  down  the  blos- 
soms or  the  fruit;  and  if  no  joy  was  called  Christian  joy 
except  that  which  comes  from  meditation  on  high  themes, 
the  great  mass  of  humble  souls  would  go  without  joyfulness. 

Now,  you  are  to  find  Christian  joy  in  your  duties  in  the 
family,  and  in  your  duties  outside  of  the  family.  You  are  to 


N'  JOYFULNESS.  179 

find  it  in  your  every-day  life  at  home  and  in  society.  You  are 
to  find  it  in  your  intercourse  one  with  another.  The  great 
truths  of  God's  love,  of  the  redeeming  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  of  the  watchfulness  of  God  over  men,  and  of  his  help- 
fulness toward  them,  are  to  hare  such  an  effect  on  your  mind 
that  when  you  enter  upon  your  daily  tasks  you  shall  have 
power  of  hope  in  you  so  that  you  can  extract  joy  from  com- 
mon things.  There  is  where  you  must  get  your  joy — in 
nature  ;  in  society ;  in  social  intercourse  ;  in  all  things.  Paul 
said  he  rejoiced  even  in  infirmities. 

Nineteen-twentieth s  of  our  life  must  be  spent  in  thoughts 
of  physical  things,  and  not  of  spiritual  subjects.  A  man  who 
is  at  work  in  a  cabinet  shop  will  be  thinking  about  how  he 
shall  provide  for  his  family  as  well  as  about  the  labor  which 
he  is  performing.  A  man  who  is  in  business  will  be  thinking 
perpetually  how  he  shall  carry  that  business  on  successfully. 
A  merchant  has  a  multitude  of  things  to  occupy  his  atten- 
tion. And  how  shall  these  men  think  of  hymns  and  utter 
prayers  while  the  influences  of  outward  affairs  are  pressing 
in  upon  them  from  every  side  ?  Now  and  then  there  will 
be  interjectional  prayers  uttered,  and  there  will  be  snatches 
of  hymns  sung  ;  but  during  nineteen-twentieths  of  the  time 
these  men  must  be  occupied  in  thoughts  of  their  avocations ; 
and  if  there  were  no  way  to  have  joyfulness  in  the  necessary 
occupations  of  men,  we  should  be  slenderly  equipped,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  for  the  experience  of  that  joy  whose  ten- 
dency is  to  make  life  beautiful. 

Things  have  been  going  very  badly  with  a  man.  It  has 
been  hard  work  for  him  to  get  up  in  the  morning  and  re- 
sume the  toils  of  the  day.  He  has  been  running  behind  in 
every  part  of  his  work,  and  it  has  become  drudgery  to  him. 
Care  is  beginning  to  plow  deep  furrows  on  his  face.  But  by 
and  by  his  old  partner,  who  has  been  gone  so  long,  and  who 
has  been  supposed  to  be  dead,  comes  home,  and  brings  tidings 
of  ample  capital,  and  greets  him  over  night,  and  says  to  him, 
"  Well,  it  is  all  right  now.  Everything  is  arranged  ;  our  affairs 
will  be  prosperous  again.  I  am  sorry  to  see  you  in  such  a  drag ; 
but  things  will  work  smoothly  after  this."  The  next  morning 
the  man  does  the  same  things  that  he  did  before,  but  he  does 


180  CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS. 

them  in  a  different  mood.  Before,  he  was  discouraged  and 
all  collapsed  ;  but  now  that  his  partner  has  said  to  him,  "I 
am  behind  you  with  sufficient  means,"  see  how  the  man  goes 
out  courageous  and  hopeful.  One  day  he  is  depressed  by  sad- 
ness and  fear,  and  the  next  day  he  is  buoyed  up  by  hope  and 
courage  ;  and  when  be  has  got  through  his  day's  work  he  goes 
home  at  night  cheerful,  having  been  cheerful  all  day  long. 
The  moment  the  good  news  was  brought  to  him  a  change 
came  over  him  such  that  he  extracted  joy  from  all  his  duties 
and  all  his  surroundings. 

Have  you  never  gone  to  your  business  bearing  the  thought 
of  some  sick  one  at  home  ?  How  at  every  interval,  under  such 
circumstances,  between  the  transactions  of  the  day  gloomy 
thoughts  and  fears  shoot  up  into  your  mind  !  How  the  day 
wears !  By-and-by  a  joyful  reverse  takes  place,  and  health 
comes  back ;  and  then,  in  the  intervals  there  shoot  up  into 
your  mind  feelings  of  gladness  and  joy.  With  many  men, 
yesterday  it  was  all  darkness,  and  to-day  it  is  all  light. 

Have  you  never  come  into  an  hour  of  great  love  ?  Have 
you  never  come  home  in  vacation  with  a  realization  of  what 
you  had  in  father  and  mother,  brother  and  sister,  and  friends  ? 
Do  you  not  remember  how  you  could  hardly  sleep  the  night 
before  you  started  for  your  father's  house  ?  Do  you  not  re- 
member how  you  weaned  yourself  with  ecstasy  and  expecta- 
tion on  the  coach  during  the  early  part  of  your  journey 
homeward,  and  how  as  you  came  near  your  destination  your 
heart  became  heavy  and  sad,  having  used  yourself  up,  and,  as 
it  were,  petrified  your  feelings  by  excess  of  excitement ;  but 
how,  after  you  became  rested,  for  days  and  days  home  and 
friends  seemed  blessed  to  you  ? 

Now,  the  function  of  divine  truth  is  to  fill  the  mind  with 
blessed  associations  of  God  ;  with  a  realization  of  the  divine 
government ;  with  a  sense  of  God's  presence  and  love  ;  with 
such  a  perception  of  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  soul 
that  there  shall  be  victory  in  business  and  care  and  labor. 

It  is  not  trouble  in  this  life  that  makes  us  unhappy  :  it  is 
the  low  tone  which  we  are  in  when  we  receive  trouble.  We 
receive  it  on  such  relaxed  minds  and  with  so  little  vitality 
and  courage,  that  it  harasses  us  when  it  ought  not  to, 


CHRISTIAN  JOYFTTLNESS.  181 

If  a  man's  skin  is  abraded  in  any  part,  he  is  sensitive  to 
the  finest  dust  when  it  falls  upon  that  part ;  but  if  his  skin 
is  unbroken  and  healthy,  not  only  dust  but  gravel  may  fall  on 
it  and  he  scarcely  feel  it ;  and  thorns  will  almost  produce  no 
impression  upon  it.  Many  persons  carry  minds  with  such  an 
excoriated  skin,  so  to  speak,  with  so  little  manhood,  so  devoid 
of  hope  and  faith,  so  wanting  in  a  realization  of  the  life  to 
come,  of  the  grandeur  of  liberty  in  God  and  of  sympathy  Li 
Christ  Jesus,  that  when  troubles  come  upon  them  they  have 
no  resource — nowhere  to  fly. 

There  are  little  birds  that  live  in  coarse  and  low-growing 
shrubs ;  and  they  are  subject  to  the  power  of  the  serpent, 
and  to  destruction  by  the  hunter  ;  but  there  are  other  birds 
who  have  the  liberty  of  the  whole  air,  and  fly  to  the  summits 
of  the  tallest  trees,  and  higher  even,  so  that  no  fowler's 
arrow  can  reach  them,  and  no  snare  can  entangle  them,  and 
no  power  on  earth  can  harm  them.  So  there  are  men  who 
live  near  the  earth  where  they  are  subject  to  a  thousand  in- 
fluences which  tend  to  degrade  and  destroy  them  ;  and  there 
are  other  men  who  live  above  this  world,  having  listened  to 
the  call  of  God  who  loved  them  when  they  were  dead  in  sin 
as  the  mother  loves  the  child ;  and  they  dwell  in  an  atmos- 
phere where  no  trouble  can  reach  to  harm  them.  When  a 
man  is  under  the  inspiration  of  these  truths  and  a  realization 
of  large  manhood  in  Christ  Jesus,  he  has  the  power  to  escape 
from  trouble,  by  the  power  of  patience  in  trouble.  Yes, 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  man's  being  "  patient  in  tribulr.- 
tion."  The  same  thing  means  to-day  an  ounce,  and  to-mor- 
row a  ton,  according  to  the  mood  which  a  man  is  in.  The 
dynamics  of  trouble  is  but  little  understood. 

A  man  goes  over  to  New  York.  His  great  affairs  are  all 
toppling  down.  "Whoever  speaks  to  him  almost  makes  him 
cry.  He  is  under  the  pressure  of  bankruptcy.  Right  before 
him  he  sees  losses,  ruin  and  poverty.  A  thousand  imaginary 
wants  stare  him  in  the  face.  But  reverse  this  state  of  things. 
Let  men  put  into  his  possession  all  that  he  needs,  for  as  long 
as  he  needs  it.  Now  this  same  man,  when  he  goes  to  his 
business,  sees  things  very  differently.  That  which  annoyed 
him  yesterday  does  not  annoy  him  to-day.  That  which  yes- 


182  CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS. 

terday  was  almost  unbearable  to  him  he  can  now  bear  with 
the  utmost  composure.  That  which  struck  him  yesterday 
strikes  a  very  different  man  to-day — or  the  same  man  in  a 
different  mood.  A  man  who  is  happy  can  bear  anything  in 
creation.  Courage,  hope  and  joy — these  lift  a  man  up  with 
scarcely  less  than  an  omnipotent  power.  Your  faith  and 
your  love  are  factors  of  your  character  and  life. 

A  man  who  brings  to  his  business  a  sweet  and  singing 
soul,  a  man  who  brings  to  the  affairs  of  life  an  enlightened 
and  ransomed  spirit,  a  man  who  brings  to  his  avocation  true 
spiritual  manhood,  will  find  joy  in  everything.  Everything 
he  looks  upon  he  will  turn,  in  one  way  or  another,  to  such 
uses  that  it  will  work  exhilaration. 

Now  it  is  a  good  thing  for  a  man  to  learn  how  to  be  happy 
in  prayer-meetings,  and  on  Sunday  in  church  ;  but  I  think 
that  rational  happiness  is  one  of  the  most  wholesome  things 
in  the  world.  That  which  men  are  dying  for  is  rational  hap- 
piness. There  are  those  who  are  not  half  the  men  that  they 
ought  to  be,  because  they  are  not  impleted  with  that  aerated 
blood  which  gives  the  impulse  and  the  power  to  overcome 
circumstances,  and  turn  even  adversity  to  a  good  account. 
What  Christianity  needs  is  men  who  are  happy,  not  alone 
when  they  go  to  the  concert-room,  or  the  lecture-room,  or  the 
church,  but  at  all  times — men  who  have  a  capital  of  happi- 
ness which  they  can  carry  out  into  all  the  spheres  of  life,  so 
as  to  be  victorious  over  their  cares  and  trials,  and  the  ten 
thousand  influences  which  surround  them. 

Look  a  little  at  this  matter.  We  have  to  mix  and  deal 
v/ith  men  more  or  less.  Some  of  them  are  ugly  ;  others  are 
stingy ;  others  are  pompous  and  disagreeable  ;  others  are 
imperious  and  despotic ;  others  are  plausible,  smooth  and 
deceitful ;  others  are  spiteful  and  nagging ;  others  are  like 
flies,  disgusting  in  their  familiarity ;  others  are  like  wasps 
that  never  touch  but  to  sting ;  others  go  bumping  and  thump- 
ing through  the  world  like  summer  beetles  in  a  room  at  night; 
and  the  tendency  of  selfishness  is  to  sort  out  these  men  and 
keep  each  class  away  from  every  other  ;  but  the  true  Christ- 
like  spirit  is  so  large  that  it  tends  to  incline  a  man  to  meet 
all  these  men,  and  have  commerce  with  them,  and  manifest  a 


CHRISTIAN  JOYFtTLXESS.  183 

disposition  of  kindness  toward  them.  Yea,  even  if  they 
assail  you,  and  follow  you  up  with  determined  evil,  and  fill 
your  road  with  impediments,  and  beat  you  down,  and  perse- 
cute you,  you  are  to  have  from  Christ  such  a  spirit  of  meek- 
ness and  gentleness  and  hope  and  joy  and  love  that  they  shall 
not  disturb  your  happiness. 

In  the  tower  of  the  old  cathedral  at  Antwerp,  there  is 
a  chime  of  thirty  bells,  some  of  which  are  not  larger 
than  a  tumbler,  and  which  at  every  hour  ring  out  exquisite 
music,  some  magnificent  chant,  and  every  quarter  of  an  hour 
make  a  lead  out  toward  it,  by  way  of  getting  ready.  But 
suppose  when  the  wind  blew  upon  that  tower  those  bells 
would  not  play  ?  Suppose  they  would  not  play  when  the 
storm  raged  above  it  ?  Suppose  they  would  not  play  during 
biting  frosts  or  intense  heat?  But  there  they  swing,  and 
always  at  the  appointed  time  they  thrill  the  air  with  music, 
through  summer  and  winter,  with  a  power  in  themselves  which 
is  dependent  neither  on  calms  nor  storms,  neither  on  heat 
nor  cold ;  and  though  battle  itself  should  rend  the  air  with 
tumult,  at  the  regular' periods  out  would  gush  wondrous 
melodies,  filling  all  the  upper  region;  and  it  would  be  just 
the  same  though  not  a  single  man  was  near  to  listen. 

And  so  ought  men  in  the  hubbub  of  life  to  carry  about 
them  a  joyfulness  which,  at  every  hour  and  at  every  quarter 
hour  should  sound  out,  no  matter  what  might  be  going  on 
above  them  or  below  them  or  around  them.  There  ought  to 
be  joy  in  a  man  which  should  at  all  times  make  him  inde- 
pendent of  his  circumstances. 

There  are  some  things  which  are  necessary,  but  which  are 
not  agreeable.  I  suppose  that  if  I  were  to  say  to  my  chisel, 
"  Do  you  like  to  be  put  on  the  hone  ?"  It  would  say,  "  No ; 
it  is  a  great  trial  to  me  that  I  am  ever  honed."  And  I  sup- 
pose if  I  should  say  to  my  saw,  "Do  you  like  to  be  filed  ?" 
It  would  say,  "  No ;  I  wish  that  I  might  never  be  filed 
again;  I  hate  the  sound,  and  I  don't  enjoy  the  feeling." 
And  yet,  to  be  of  use,  a  chisel  needs  to  be  honed,  and  a 
saw  needs  to  be  filed.  And  the  cares  and  troubles  of  life 
are  the  emery  or  strop  by  which  men  are  sharpened  and 
brought  to  a  cutting  edge.  The  trials  which  men  are 


184  CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS. 

called  to  undergo  are  the  means  by  which  they  are  educated. 
But  they  take  their  education  hard.  They  do  not  under- 
stand it.  They  are  ignorant  of  the  opportunities  which  are 
offered  them  for  development  and  training  in  the  school  of 
God.  What  they  need  is  that  their  experiences  should  be 
struck  through  with  the  light  of  Christian  faith  and  joy. 

I  like  to  hear  persons  sing.  I  think  I  would  pay  several 
dollars  extra  a  month  to  a  servant  girl  who  would  sing  as  she 
worked.  A  captain  on  shipboard  is  sometimes  willing  to  pay 
for  a  man  that  fiddles  that  he  may  go  along  and  entertain  the 
crew  with  music.  But  what  if  they  could  all  fiddle  ?  How 
much  more  they  would  enjoy  it !  It  is  a  good  thing  to  have  a 
person  in  the  house  who  knows  how  to  sing  ;  but  why  should 
not  everybody  in  the  house  sing  ? 

Why  are  you  snubbed  by  care — you  who  are  the  emblem 
of  power  in  the  universe  ;  you  who  represent  nerve-power, 
brain-power,  soul-power,  God-power  ?  Why  is  it  that  you 
are  carried  away  by  little  attritions  ?  Why  is  it  that  you 
knuckle  down  to  things  that  worry  you,  and  talk  about  your 
burdens  and  responsibilities  ?  It  is  a  shame.  It  is  a  denial 
of  religion.  It  is  bearing  false  witness  against  Christ.  Ev- 
ery true  Christian  should  live  in  the  midst  of  necessary  cares 
and  troubles  with  a  joyful  spirit,  so  that  those  who  look  shall 
wonder,  and  ask,  "Where  did  you  get  the  power  to  do  it  ?" 

A  man  goes  into  a  shop,  and  does  not  drink,  nor  swear, 
nor  ride  on  Sunday,  nor  squander  his  money.  He  is  a  sober, 
steady  man.  He  is  a  Christian.  And  his  fellow  workmen, 
observing  his  life,  say,  "That  may  suit  him,  but  it  would 
not  agree  with  my  temperament." 

On  the  other  hand,  let  a  man  become  a  Christian,  and  go 
into  a  shop,  and  not  only  avoid  evil  and  follow  good,  in  a 
general  way,  but  be  cheerful  under  all  circumstances :  let 
him  be  genial  though  he  is  balked  of  his  wages ;  let  him 
be  kind  to  those  who  attempt  to  wrong  him  ;  let  him  do 
good  to  those  who  persecute  him,  and  everybody  will  like 
him  better  than  they  did  before  he  became  a  Christian.  A 
man  is  sweet-tempered  when  everybody  else  is  soured  in  tem- 
per :  when  everybody  else  is  tired,  and  gloomy,  and  de- 
pressed, he  is  full  of  song  and  cheerfulness  and  elasticity  ; 


CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS.  185 

and  men  say  to  him,  "  You  seem  to  enjoy  life  all  the  time," 
"Yes,"  he  says,  "enjoying  life  is  what  I  mean  by  being  a 
Christian."  "  Well,"  they  say,  "  If  I  could  get  into  his  state 
of  mind,  I  would  like  to  be  a  Christian.  I  always  supposed 
that  if  I  became  a  Christian  I  should  have  to  go  to  church, 
and  quit  tobacco,  and  knock  off  swearing."  No,  not  a  bit  of 
it ;  for  if  after  becoming  a  Christian,  you  want  to  swear,  you 
can.  I  say  to  every  man  who  has  that  idea  of  what  it  is  to 
be  a  Christian,  "  When  you  love  the  Lord  with  all  your 
heart  and  mind  and  soul  and  strength,  then  you  may  swear 
if  you  want  to. 

I  go  to  Nootka  Sound,  and  take  a  blubber-eating  boy,  and 
propose  to  bring  him  home  and  civilize  him.  He  says,  "  I 
don't  want  to  be  civilized.  If  I  go  with  you,  you  won't  let 
me  eat  rotten  blubber."  I  say,  "  Certainly  I  will ;  go  to  New 
York  and  live  with  me  four  or  five  years,  and  learn  to  eat  such 
food  as  civilized  people  do ;  and  if  at  the  end  of  that  time 
you  want  to  eat  rotten  blubber  you  may."  No  man  wants  to 
eat  rotten  blubber  after  he  is  civilized,  and  no  man  wants  to 
wear  after  he  has  become  a  Christian. 

Suppose  I  should  say  to  John  Zundel,"  "  You  may  have 
discords  if  you  want  them."  That  would  be  safe,  for  he 
never  wants  them,  his  ear  having  been  trained  to  harmony. 
And  I  would  say  to  men,  "  Right  is  inherently  sweeter  and 
better  than  wrong  ; "  and  when  a  man  once  comes  into  such 
a  condition  of  life  that  wrong  hurts  him,  and  when  he  comes 
to  have  such  a  sense  of  right  that  he  prefers  it,  there  can  be 
no  law  to  him.  He  is  a  law  to  himself.  He  has  that  in  him 
which  is  his  guide. 

Now,  if  we  had  fewer  of  the  mechanical  processes  of  reli- 
gion, fewer  of  its  technical  doctrines,  and  more  of  the  love 
and  sweetness  and  light  and  joy  and  undying  inspiration 
which  belongs  to  Christianity,  what  a  proclamation  we  should 
be  to  everybody !  One  true  Christia^  in  a  house  is  like  an 
organ  in  that  house.  It  takes  only  one  Ponce  de  Leon  rose 
to  fill  a  room  with  fragrance.  If  there  is  one  in  the  parlor, 
the  instant  I  come  in  I  know  that  it  is  there,  though  I  do 
not  see  it.  And  what  if  I  had  a  whole  garden  full  of  them  ? 

It  is  a  shame  that  Christianity  has  so  little  power  among 


186  CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS. 

men.  It  is  a  shame  that  the  influence  of  Christian  men  in 
the  world  is  so  feeble.  The  reflected  light  of  Christianity  in 
a  man  who  is  a  Christian  ought  to  be  so  beautiful  to  the 
imagination,  to  the  reason,  to  all  the  higher  faculties,  as  to 
lift  men  out  of  vulgarisms  and  animalisms  into  spirituality. 
A  man  who  is  a  Christian  ought  to  stand  in  such  contrast 
with  men  who  are  not  Christians  that  every  one  who  beholds 
him  shall  not  only  wish  to  be  like  him,  but  shall  glorify  God 
on  his  account.  And.  what  a  criticism  this  is  on  popular 
Christianity !  It  gives  light  also  on  the  subject  of  living 
high  or  low  Christian  lives.  The  older  I  grow,  the  less  I  am 
disposed  to  put  men  under  yokes  and  burdens,  the  less  im- 
portant do  I  regard  it  that  men  should  become  nominal  and 
technical  Christian  people,  and  the  more  essential  do  I  feel  it 
to  be  that  they  should  become  inwardly  Christians.  And  in 
receiving  into  the  church  so  large  a  number  as  we  have  on 
the  present  occasion,  I  have  felt  moved  to  celebrate  this  day 
of  their  public  espousal  of  their  connection  with  God  by 
presenting  Christianity  in  its  aspects  of  hope  and  liberty  and 
elasticity  and  sweetness  and  gladness.  I  do  not  want  any 
more  poor,  maimed  Christians.  Well,  I  will  take  them  in 
if  they  were  poor  and  maimed  before,  in  order  that  their 
condition  may  be  made  better — in  order  that  the  halt  may 
leap,  and  that  the  leper  may  be  cleansed ;  but  I  am  not 
willing  that  they  should  come  into  this  church  to  see  less 
than  they  saw  before ;  to  be  more  restricted  than  they  were 
before.  I  am  not  willing  that  they  should  come  in  feeling, 
"  I  must  do  such  and  such  things  so  that  I  may  have  my 
reward  in  the  life  to  come."  I  am  not  willing  that  they 
should  come  in  saying,  "I  wonder  how  much  freedom  I  can 
have  ;  I  wonder  how  far  I  can  go  in  the  enjoyments  of  worldly 
things ;  I  wonder  whether  I  can  go  to  the  opera,  whether  I  can 
dance,  and  whether  I  can  play  cards  at  home.  Of  course,  I 
do  not  want  to  violate  (Christian  rules ;  but  I  would  like  to 
know  how  far  I  can  safely  go  in  these  directions.  I  am  going 
to  take  just  as  much  secular  enjoyment  as  I  can  and  not  lose 
my  soul."  I  do  not  want  any  such  Christians. 

All  things  are  yours,  if  you  only  are  Christ's.     "Hence- 
forth  I   call  you  not  servants,"   saith    the  master  to  his 


CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS.  187 

disciples,  "  but  friends ;  for  the  servant  knoweth  not  what 
the  master  doeth."  The  servant  is  not  admitted  to  intimacy 
and  to  counsel ;  but  you,  if  you  are  Christ's  and  are  lifted 
above  the  lower  environments  of  this  world  into  the  realm  of 
love  and  purity  and  holiness,  become  judges,  severally,  of 
what  is  right  and  wrong  in  your  sphere.  I  long  to  see  men 
brought  into  the  church  more  noble,  more  manly,  larger, 
carrying  themselves  in  trouble  and  in  trials  with  a  heroism 
and  courage  which  shall  give  others  to  know  that  they  are  con- 
verted. I  long  to  see  men  come  into  the  church  in  order  that 
they  may  blossom  outside  of  the  church.  I  would  have  men 
come  into  the  church  that  they  may  become  more  fragrant, 
freer  and  more  joyful.  In  Christian  life,  under  such  circum- 
stances, there  is  increase  of  joy.  Joy  that  becomes  peace  is 
the  highest  joy  in  the  world.  Turbulent  joys  are  the 
lowest  forms  of  joy,  always.  Ecstacy  is  not  as  good  as  peace- 
fulness.  As  men  grow  riper  and  richer  in  their  spiritual 
nature  they  tend  more  and  more  to  come  into  "  that  peace 
which  passeth  all  understanding  " — the  peace  of  God  which 
is  an  equalization  of  joy. 

If  you  lift  up  a  peak  on  a  plain,  it  stands  noticeable  in 
its  solitariness  ;  but  if  you  lift  up  another  by  the  side  of  it, 
and  another  by  the  side  of  that,  and  a  third,  and  a  fourth, 
and  a  fifth,  then  the  surface  of  these  various  peaks  itself  be- 
comes a  plain.  A  dozen  hills  put  together  make  a  level  sur- 
face. And  one  joy,  when  it  lifts  itself  up  alone,  stands 
solitary  ;  but  if  you  put  a  second,  a  third,  a  fourth,  and  a 
fifth  along  with  it,  by-and-by  you  have  a  level  plain  of  peace. 
Men  say  that  it  lacks  excitement ;  but  I  say  that  it  is  the 
highest  form  of  excitement.  Enjoyment  in  its  most  blessed 
form  is  that  perfect  tranquility  which  is  deep  as  the  ocean, 
peaceful  as  the  ocean  in  a  calm,  and  grand  as  the  ocean  in  a 
storm.  Christian  life  should  be  sweet  and  peaceful,  founded 
in  love  and  in  righteousness,  and  flying  by  hope  and  faith  all 
around  in  the  atmosphere  of  joy. 

"  Rejoice  ID  the  Lord  alway,  and  again  I  say,  Rejoice." 


After  the  blessing  is  pronounced  we  shall  sit  together 
and  Dartake  of  the  emblems  of  the  broken  body  of  Christ, 


188  CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS. 

and  of  his  blood  shed.  To  me  this  is  a  very  joyful  service  ; 
because,  although  here  is  defeat,  we  also  have  the  rebound  of 
victory.  I  invite  every  one  in  this  congregation  who  has 
spiritual  fitness  to  join  with  us.  I  do  not  limit  the  invitation 
of  the  Lord's  table  by  any  ecclesiastical  or  theological  lines.  I 
put  it  on  the  ground  of  human  need.  Whoever  needs  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  comfort  him,  to  inspire  him,  and  is 
willing  to  accept  him  in  his  inward  thought,  and  feeling — 
him  I  invite  to  participate  in  these  emblems  of  Christ's  sacri- 
fice for  us. 


CHRISTIAN  JOY  FULNESS.  189 


PRAYER  BEFORE  THE   SERMON.* 

OUR  heavenly  Father,  we  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  permitted  us 
to  live  and  behold  these  blessed  scenes ;  that  thou  hast  created  suun 
joy  within  the  sanctuary ;  making  so  many  hearts  glad.  We  thank 
thee  that  thou  hast  set  the  day  in  so  much  brightness  without; 
that  thou  hast  commanded  the  sun  and  the  season,  and  that  all  things 
are  springing  up  and  breaking  forth  into  life,  and  beginning  to  grow. 

Now,  O  Lord,  thou  hast  brought  spring  hither  also;  and  in  thy 
garden  thou  art  causing  many  and  many  a  one  to  begin  to  show 
forth  the  power  of  the  new  life.  We  pray  that  thou  wilt  accept 
the  wishes  and  purpose.}  of  thy  dear  children  who  have  this  morn- 
ing been  united  to  us;  and  grant  that  yet  more  significantly  they 
may  be  united  to  thee;  that  the  channel  of  intercourse  between 
their  souls  and  thy  soul  may  be  open  and  large;  that  continually 
thy  Spirit  may  descend  upon  them,  and  inspire  in  them  the  noblest 
thoughts  and  motives;  and  that  they  may  bo  cleansed  from  the 
imperfections  of  the  world  and  the  flesh,  and  bo  imbued  with  every- 
thing which  partakes  of  the  divine  influence.  We  pray  that  thou 
wilt  fill  them  with  all  joy,  not  only  in  believing,  but  in  living.  May 
they  become  the  children  of  light  and  of  joy;  and  may  they  be 
known  everywhere  by  their  righteousness.  If  troubles  shall  come 
upon  them,  may  they  have  that  spirit  of  illumination  from 
above  which  shall  enable  them  to  pierce  through  trouble  with  the 
bright  light  of  faith  and  hope.  If  thou  shalt  bring  bereavements 
upon  them,  may  thy  grace  be  sufficient  for  them.  Thou  that  hast  in 
every  age  upheld  thy  servants  in  the  dungeon,  in  the  flame,  in  the 
wilderness,  living  or  dying — thou  canst  still  animate  thy  servants, 
and  give  them  strength  for  their  day.  Grant  that  these  dear  souls 
now  gathered  into  communion  with  us,  through  us  may  be  strength- 
ened for  the  emergencies  of  their  lives,  that  they  may  be  happier  in 
themselves,  and  that  they  may  better  bring  the  voice  of  gladness  and 
of  cheer  into  the  dwellings  where  they  are,  and  show  forth  in  the  gen- 
tleness, and  meekness,  and  humility,  and  love  which  they  shall  bear 
to  all  who  are  around  them,  the  true  working  of  the  divine 
Spirit  in  them.  We  beseech  of  thee  that  they  may  not  count 
themselves  unworthy  of  suffering,  since  thou  wert  crowned  with 
thorns— thou  that  dost  now  wear  the  stars  for  thy  diadem.  May  they 
not  shrink  from  enduring  pain  in  such  measure  as  is  needful  either  to 
cleanse  them,  or  to  enable  them  to  bear  witness  and  testimony  for 
Christ.  May  they,  from  day  to  day,  find  their  hearts  more  and 
more  fed  with  hope  and  gladness.  May  thy  Word,  an  ever  open  and 
exhaustless  treasure,  be  their  delight,  wherein  they  may  find  the 
way  of  life  pointed  out.  May  they  find  in  it  those  communications  of 
God  which  are  needed  by  their  souls.  And  so  may  they  be  made  rich. 

Grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  thy  servants  who  have  looked  upon  this 
ingathering  may  rejoice  and  have  faith  for  the  future.  Behold,  this 
is  the  result  of  seed  sown  in  tears.  Behold,  here  is  the  fruit  of  years 
of  watching  and  care.  We  rejoice  that  there  are  some  who  see  their 

*  Immediately  following  the  reception  of  members  into  the  church. 


190  CHRISTIAN  JOYFULNESS. 

children,  that  there  are  some  who  see  those  long  dearer  to  them 
than  their  own  selves,  now  recalled  from  wandering  ways  to  the 
Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  their  souls. 

We  rejoice,  O  Lord,  that  there  are  many  who  look  down  from  the 
heavenly  sphere,  and  whose  hearts  are  made  glad  by  sights  like 
these  on  earth.  We  rejoice  in  the  sense  that  those  who  have  gona 
out  from  among  us  into  glory  are  yet  with  us  in  sympathy.  We  con- 
gratulate those  who  have  lived  and  labored  for  the  elevation  of  this 
people— those  who  have  beheld  in  the  consecration  of  these  souls 
the  fruit  of  their  prayers,  and  watching,  and  fidelity.  And  wo 
beseech  of  thee  that  none  may  be  discouraged.  In  these  bright  testi- 
monies of  the  power  of  truth  and  God's  faithfulness,  may  those  who 
are  discouraged  be  reassured.  May  those  who  have  backslidden  and 
are  wandering,  return  to  the  fold  of  Christ.  And  may  this  house 
be  filled  with  gladness  to-day. 

We  cannot,  O  Lord,  thank  thee  enough  for  thine  illumining  Spirit 
and  grace  by  which  thou  hast  comforted  the  hearts  of  thy  people. 
How  much  occasion  have  we  all  to  bear  witness  to  the  goodness  of 
God  and  the  sustaining  grace  of  God  ;  and  together,  as  a  church  and 
congregation,  we  make  mention  of  thy  goodness,  and  rejoice  in  thee, 
and  praise  thy  holy  name. 

And  now,  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  make  this  a  day  of  delight  to 
every  one  of  us.  We  rejoice  in  our  liberty.  We  rejoice  in  the  liberty 
of  the  spirit  which  makes  us  free,  and  which  gives  us  all  things.  The 
range  of  the  universe  is  ours.  Thou  wilt  yet  give  us  power  by  which 
to  rise  and  fly.  We  shall  cast  off  these  bodies,  this  weight,  the  infir- 
mities of  the  flesh,  and  shall  go  home  to  the  general  assembly  of  the 
first  born  in  heaven,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  madt  perfect. 
May  we  take  hold,  to-day,  somewhat  of  the  largeness  of  the  life 
which  is  coming  to  us,  and  learn  less  and  less  to  look  with  care  and 
anxiety  upon  the  fleeting  things  of  the  present  life. 

Grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  in  our  homes,  in  our  avocations,  in  our 
walking  by  the  way,  wherever  we  may  be,  we  may  evermore  rejoice 
in  the  Lord,  so  that  men  beholding  our  brightness  and  gladness  shall 
seek  to  come  into  the  same  blessed  experience. 

And  now,  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  to  all  those  who  love  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity  and  in  truth,  grace,  mercy  and  peace. 
Grant  to  all  thy  churches  plenitude  of  power  and  wisdom  by  which 
thy  servants  may  speak  the  truth  efficaciously.  May  they  rejoice  in 
their  labor;  and  though  they  may  sow  their  seed  in  tears,  may  they 
speedily  come  again,  their  bosoms  filled  with  sheaves. 

We  pray  for  the  spread  of  knowledge  throughout  our  land,  and 
for  the  establishment  of  this  great  people,  not  in  outward  strength, 
but  in  the  strength  of  God.  And  may  all  thy  promises  which  respect 
the  islands  of  the  sea  and  the  dark  continents  of  the  earth,  and  the 
whole  realm  of  the  world,  be  speedily  fulfilled,  and  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  rest  upon  all  mankind. 

And  to  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Spirit  shall  be  praises  ever- 
lasting. Amen. 


LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES. 


"But  covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts:  and  yet  shew  I  unto  you  a 
more  excellent  way."— 1  COB.  xii.  31. 


What  were  the  gifts  which  they  were  to  covet  ?  What 
was  that  which  was  better  than  even  those  gifts  ?  We  are 
left  in  no  doubt  whatsoever.  By  turning  back  to  the  fore 
part  of  this  chapter,  it  will  be  found  that  what  may  be  called 
the  whole  ecclesiastical  framework  of  the  Christian  church — 
its  ordinances,  its  creeds,  its  officers,  its  polity,  its  methods — 
were  undoubtedly  included  under  this  general  term,  gifts  ; 
and  not  only  are  they  spoken  of  with  respect,  but  there  is 
the  implication  of  a  relative  and  graded  excellence  in  them ; 
and  men  are  commanded  to  desire  the  best  of  them ;  yet 
there  is  something  that  is  better  than  all  of  them.  What  is 
that  ?  It  is  the  contents  of  the  13th  of  First  Corinthians 
which  I  read  and  comment  on  so  often  in  this  church  that 
I  am  afraid  you  will  think  I  do  not  read  any  other  part  of 
the  Bible  much. 

"  Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and  have 
not  love,  I  am  become  as  sounding  brass,  or  a  tinkling  cymbal." 

I  shall  not  read  it.  I  merely  announce  what  it  is.  It  is 
the  living  force  of  Christianity. 

Paul  says,  "  Covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts ;"  but  there  is 
something  better  than  they  are,  and  that  is  the  living  power 
of  God  in  the  human  soul.  That,  I  take  it,  would  be  Paul's 
interpretation  of  this  passage,  if  he  were  here,  and  should 
interpret  it  in  the  light  of  the  present  state  of  facts  and  of 
feeling  in  the  Christian  church. 

SUNDAY  MORNING,  May  10,  1874.  LESSON:  Rom.  xiv.  1-19;  HYMNS  (Plymouth 
Collection) :  NOB.  108, 970.  949. 


194  LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES. 

By  looking  back  you  will  see,  in  the  fourth  verse  of  the 
12th  chapter,  this  declaration  : 

"Now  there  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  spirit.  There 
are  differences  of  administration  [governments,  and  so  on],  but  the 
same  Lord.  And  there  are  diversities  of  operations  [the  phenomena 
attending  the  whole  work  of  God  in  the  human  soul  is  infinitely 
various],  but  it  is  the  same  God  which  worketh  all  in  all  [all  these 
things  iu  all  men].  But  the  manifestation  of  the  spirit  is  given  to 
every  man  to  profit  withal.  [There  is  no  inherent  sanctity  in  these 
things ;  they  are  not  worth  anything  in  themselves.  Their  end  and 
object  is  the  profit  which  they  work  out  in  men.  Their  value  is  to  be 
graded  and  decided  by  the  profit  which  is  in  them.  If  they  do  no 
good,  then  they  are  not  good  ;  and  if  they  do  a  great  deal  of  good, 
then  they  are  good.  They  are  to  be  measured  by  the  profit  which 
they  are  capable  of  bestowing.]  For  to  one  is  given,  by  the  Spirit,  the 
word  of  wisdom  [that  is,  the  instruction  of  the  real  old  logician, 
preaching  truth  according  to  high  philosophical  forms,  wisdom  sig- 
nifying philosophy,  substantially]." 

Now,  you  have  no  right  to  ridicule  those  old  dry  doctrin- 
aires— the  men  who  preach  solid  doctrine.  There  is  a  place 
and  a  use  for  them.  You  may  say  that  they  look  like  great 
knots,  and  hard,  twisted  roots  of  forest  trees.  Well,  very 
likely  they  do  ;  but  I  notice  that  the  veneers  for  the  most 
beautiful  furniture  are  sawed  out  of  these  very  knots,  and 
twisted  roots,  and  what  not.  Therefore  they  serve  a  pur- 
pose. 

"  To  another  the  word  of  knowledge  [experience,  practical  life, 
things  ethical],  by  the  same  spirit;  to  another  faith  by  the  same 
spirit;  to  another  the  gifts  of  healing  by  the  same  spirit;  to  another 
the  working  of  miracles;  to  another  prophec-y  [not  merely  fore- 
telling, but  teaching];  to  another  discerning  of  spirits;  to  another 
divers  kinds  of  tongues;  to  another  interpretation  of  tongues:  but 
all  these  worketh  that  one  and  the  self-same  spirit,  dividing  to  every 
man  severally  as  he  will.  For  as  the  body  is  one,  and  hath  many 
members,  and  all  the  members  of  that  one  body,  being  many,  are 
one  body,  so  also  is  Christ." 

The  unity  of  the  Church  is  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  not  in 
sects,  nor  in  any  feeble  earthly  churches.  They  are  all 
members  or  parts.  The  unity  is  in  Christ,  in  the  Spirit. 
Some  of  these  churches  and  sects  are  eyes  ;  some  of  them  are 
ears ;  some  of  them  are  hands  ;  some  of  them  are  feet ;  some 
of  them  are  nails,  apparently,  and  they  scratch.  They  have 
different  functions. 

"  For  [and  this  is  a  most  radical  and  revoluttonaiy  passage,  when 
you  consider  that  it  was  spoken  in  the  eyes  and  face  of  the  Jews— a 


LIBERTY  IN  TUB  C1IVRC1IES.  195 

bigoted  and  angry  nation  who  would  not  listen— and  that  it  -was  oon- 
siilered  to  be  almost  as  .Tuu:h  as  a  man's  life  was  worth  to  say  to  them 
that  a  Gentile  had  any  considerable  rights]  by  one  spirit  are  we  all 
baptized  into  one  body,  whether  we  be  Jews  or  Gentiles,  whether  we 
be  bond  or  free ;  and  have  been  made  to  drink  into  one  spirit." 

The  essential  unity  of  all  men  who  are  endeavoring  to  de- 
velop in  themselves  the  life  of  Christ  is  here  declared. 

Now,  having  asserted  the  reality  of  all  these  externalities, 
!iese  gifts,  these  instruments,  the  apostle  says,  "Seek  the 
best  of  them."  You  may  have  a  preference  ;  you  may  take 
the  best  ;  "  And  yet,"  he  says,  "there  is  something  which  i3 
better  than  they  are  ;  which  ranks  higher  than  they  do ;  which 
has  dominion  over  them."  What  is  that  ?  The  essential 
free  spirit  of  a  living  soul — the  life  of  God  made  manifest  by 
love  in  men.  That  is  superior  to  all  these  other  things. 

The  doctrine,  then,  is  this :  that  the  mood  to  which  lore 
brings  men  is  freer,  is  safer,  is  better  than  the  external  forms 
of  the  Church. 

I  think  these  Pauline  chapters  are  not  studied  half 
enough  ia  our  day,  when  so  many  events  are  taking  place 
which  cannot  be  rightly  judged  of  except  by  the  free,  lofty 
principles  that  are  laid  down  by  that  apostle. 

First,  there  is  ample  recognition  in  the  New  Testament  o'f 
the  need  and  wisdom  of  church  institutions.  It  is  time  that 
our  Master  did  not  command  his  disciples  to  form  a  church. 
It  is  time  that  there  is  not  on  record  one  single  line  or  word 
from  him  which  prescribes  a  new  church  as  distinct  from  the 
Jewish  church.  He  lived  in  the  J»  wish  church  himself.  He 
died  a  member  and  communicant  tf  that  church.  Nor  did 
his  disciples  understand  that  they  were  to  step  out  of  it  and 
fashion  another  one.  They,  all  of  them,  for  more  than 
twenty -five  years,  lived  in  communion  with  the  Jewish 
Church.  Forty  years  after  the  ascension  of  their  Master 
they  still  sacrificed  in  the  temple  and  were  a  Christian 
brotherhood  only  as  a  party  in  tn<>  original  Jewish  Church. 
It  would  seem  to  be  the  height  of  Iristorical  phantasy,  there- 
fore, to  declare  that  the  Christian  Church  was  outlined  and 
prescribed  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Ohrist,  understood  to  be  so  by 
his  apostles,  and  taught  by  them  to  be  so.  A  greater  mis- 
take can  scarcely  be  imagined. 


196  LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES. 

Nevertheless,  there  was  a  church.  There  weie  religious 
institutions.  They  were  accepted.  They  were  implied. 
And  the  moment  the  apostles  began  to  preach  outside  of 
Judaea  where  there  was  no  temple,  and  where  there  were  no 
synagogues,  they  were  organized,  chey  were  officered,  and 
there  came  to  be  laws  and  methods  and  usages;  and  tko 
apostles  commanded  them,  interpreted  them,  and  ranked 
them. 

Therefore,  if  any  man  say  that  there  is  no  warrant  in  the 
word  of  God  for  any  church  organization,  I  think  he  misses 
.the  mark  on  one  extreme,  as  much  as  the  hierarch  misses  it 
on  the  other  when  he  declares  that  there  was  a  specific  form 
of  organization  prescribed  for  the  Christian  Church.  These 
are  the  extremists  on  the  one  side  and  on  the  other. 

Secondly,  it  is  recognized  that  there  is  perfect  freedom  in 
taking  up  and  laying  down  the  ordinances,  the  usages,  the 
laws,  the  customs,  and  the  instructing  methods  of  the  New 
Testament.  You  can  make  your  election  among  them.  You 
can  avail  yourselves  of  them,  not  according  to  any  prescribed 
divinely  appointed  scheme,  but  according  to  the  exigencies 
and  necessities  of  the  work  which  you  yourselves  have  in 
hand ;  for  the  liberty  of  man,  by  virtue  of  his  adhesion  to 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  the  axis  of  the  teaching  of  the  New 
Testament.  We  are  individually  free  on  account  of  our 
being  joined  to  Christ.  So  we  have  liberty  of  judgment, 
liberty  of  interpretation,  and  liberty  of  action,  within  the 
sphere  of  Christ-likeness  or  of  the  Christ-spirit ;  and  no  man 
has  a  right  to  judge  another  in  regard  to  his  usages,  his 
ordinances,  his  forms  of  church  organization,  and  his  meth- 
ods of  instruction.  To  his  own  master  he  stands  or  falls. 
There  are  methods,  there  is  ecclesiastical  organization,  there 
are  doctrines  and  ceremonies,  there  is  polity,  and  there  are 
governments ;  these  are  recognized  in  the  New  Testament ; 
and  the  teachers  and  members  of  Christ's  body  are  declared 
to  be  at  liberty  to  select  among  them,  taking  those  which  are 
best  adapted  to  themselves,  to  the  exigencies  of  their  age, 
and  to  the  service  which  a  special  providence  may  demand 
from  them. 

The  personal  freedom  of   man  sacrificed   to   ordinances 


LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES.  9  197 

or  to  churches — that  is  one  extreme ;  an  intense  individ- 
ualism which  refuses  all  laws,  all  ordinances,  and  all 
polity,  under  the  name  of  personal  liberty,  is  another 
extreme ;  and  the  history  of  religion  has  been  a  history  of 
vibration  between  these  two  extremes.  One  age,  or  one 
clan,  has  insisted  upon  it  that  men  should  all  be  gathered 
into  one  church,  under  regular  officers  who  should  prescribe 
for  them  their  thoughts,  their  feelings,  their  ethical  duties, 
almost  fixing  the  hour  and  the  minute,  so  that  all  individual- 
ism should  be  sucked  up  into  organization :  and  men  were 
considered  as  good  for  little  else  than  to  make  churches. 
They  lost  their  individual  power. 

Then  came  a  brief  reaction  from  that.  Men  threw  off  all 
the  restrictions  which  had  been  laid  upon  them  by  laws  and 
regulations,  and  rebounded  to  the  other  extreme,  and  asserted 
and  cultivated  their  personal  rights  and  liberties,  and  were 
jealous  of  ministers  and  usages  and  ordinances,  and  said,  "I 
am  a  free  man  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  I  shall  speak  as  I  choose, 
and  do  as  I  like  :  no  man  shall  lay  any  authority  on  me." 

This  spirit  of  individualism,  logically  carried  out,  is  one 
which  makes  it  impossible  for  Christians  to  work  together. 

Now,  both  of  these  principles  are  right,  and  both  of  them 
are  in  endless  operation  in  society.  First  there  is  that  spirit 
which  tends  to  produce  individual  liberty  and  independency 
of  thought  and  feeling.  That  spirit  makes  sturdy  men ;  but 
men  who  cannot  work  together  peaceably  and  efficiently. 
There  is  nothing  in  them  which  leads  them  to  give  up  their 
own  rights  for  the  sake  of  promoting  the  cause  which  they  are 
endeavoring  to  serve.  Excessive  individuality  breaks  men 
up  into  minims,  so  that  they  are  like  isolated  particles  of 
sand,  and  are  but  little  better  than  those  particles,  compared 
to  the  aggregated  power  of  the  great  body  of  the  church. 
And  then  there  is  that  spirit  which  would  take  away  all 
individual  liberty  and  independency  of  thought  and  feeling — 
and  that  kills  the  individual. 

So  there  is  to  be  a  medium.  Both  elements  are  to  be 
continually  studied.  There  is  to  be  the  power  of  the  church 
as  a  whole,  and  there  ij  to  bo  the  power  of  individuals  as 
separate  members.  The  power  of  the  whole  church,  like 


198  LIBERTY  IN  THE   CHURCHES. 

that  of  the  State,  is  made  greater  by  the  strength  of  each 
individual.  The  government  must  be  strong  enough  for  the 
common  welfare  ;  but  if  it  be  too  strong,  it  is  apt  to  beat 
down  the  citizens ;  and  when  the  citizens  are  weakened,  their 
weakness  reflects  itself  upon  the  government.  There  must 
be  a  cooperation  of  these  opposite  elements  so  that  they  shall 
work  together.  There  is  to  be  a  large  liberty  given  to  the 
power  of  the  individual,  for  the  sake  of  giving  to  the  whole 
commonwealth  liberty  and  power.  And  as  it  is  in  the  State, 
so  is  it  in  the  church. 

Hence,  the  right  of  men  to  associate  themselves  together 
for  the  sake  of  teaching  certain  doctrinal  systems  is  not  to  be 
gainsaid.  There  has  been  a  spirit  of  doctrinal  despotism 
established,  largely  ;  though  men  ridicule  creeds  and  dogmas 
to-day.  If  I  have  seemed  to  have  a  share  in  this  untoward 
spirit  in  my  speaking,  it  has  been  from  the  over-action 
of  intensity  rather  than  from  any  deliberate  purpose  ;  because 
I  recognize  the  fact  that  no  man  thinks  to  any  purpose  who 
does  not  think  dogmatically.  Any  man  who  thinks  consecu- 
tively must  think  systematically ;  and  systematic  thinking 
leads  to  the  formation  of  systems ;  and  truths  stated  posi- 
tively in  the  form  of  a  system  are  always  dogmatic.  Never- 
theless, when  dogmas  become  imperious  ;  when  men's 
personal  liberty  is  interfered  with  by  the  imposition  upon 
them  of  creeds,  then  creeds  become  oppressive  and  are  wrong 
— wrong  not  in  and  of  themselves,  necessarily,  but  in  their  use. 

Now,  I  advocate  the  right  of  men  to  associate  together 
for  the  purpose  of  making  known  any  line  of  thought, 
whether  it  be  in  the  department  of  science  or  in  any  part  or 
sphere  of  human  knowledge.  Men  have  a  right  to  associate 
together  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  right  notions  of  art, 
of  architecture,  of  medicine,  of  mechanics,  of  civil  govern- 
ment, of  church  polity,  or  of  religious  doctrines.  It  is  one 
of  the  great  rights  springing  out  of  the  individual  liberty 
of  a  man,  that  he  may  call  to  himself  as  many  as  are  in 
agreement  with  him,  in  order  that  they,  by  common  counsel 
and  effort,  may  make  known  and  enforce,  as  far  as  they  can, 
any  particular  line  of  thought  or  practice.  I  maintain  the 
right  of  men  to  Arminianism,  if  they  believe  in  Arminiankni ; 


LIBERTY  IN  Till-:  CHURCHES.  199 

to  Pelagianism,  if  they  believe  in  Pelagianism  ;  to  semi-Pela- 
gianism,  if  they  believe  in  semi-Pelagianism  ;  and  to  demi- 
semi-Pelagianism,  if  they  believe  in  demi-semi-Pelagianism. 
I  declare  the  freest  liberty  of  a  man,  being  responsible  to  his 
God  and  not  to  men  or  magistrates,  to  the  right  of  associa- 
tion, with  the  object  of  promoting  any  view  of  Calvinism, 
whether  it  be  high-church,  low-church,  middle-church, 
broad-church,  or  no-church.  The  liberty  of  association  is 
universal,  and  is  not  to  be  disputed,  but  is  to  be  guaranteed 
as  one  of  the  inevitable  results  of  the  higher  doctrine  of  the 
liberty  of  the  individual. 

For  purposes  of  enforcing  ordinances  men  also  have  a 
right  to  association.  There  is  nothing  in  the  genius  of 
Christianity,  there  certainly  is  nothing  in  its  precepts,  which 
forbids  men.  to  separate  themselves  into  bodies,  or  to  make 
others  understand  the  advantages  of  particular  ordinances. 

Now,  so  Jong  as  Mr.  Faraday's  name  lives,  we  shall  speak 
with  great  respect  of  the  Sandemanians,  who  taught  the  practice 
of  washing  the  feet  of  disciples.  They  felt  that  there  was  in 
that  ordinance  a  great  truth.  I  think  that  there  was  a  great 
truth  in  it.  I  do  not  see  why  the  washing  of  the  disciples' 
feet  did  not  carry  with  it  a  truth  as  sublime  as  that  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  which  was  a  part  of  that  ordinance,  and  which 
was  not  separated  from  it  by  any  line  of  demarkation.  The 
Sandemanians  held  it  to  be  an  ordinance  of  perpetual  validity 
in  the  church.  I  do  not  believe  any  ordinance  to  be  author- 
itative. 

When  I  form  a  sect  (and  that  will  be  in  a  future  state  of 
existence),  it  will  be  a  sect  that  uses  all  ordinances  that  it 
wants  to,  and  that  does  not  use  any  ordinance  that  it  does 
not  want  to.  It  will  be  a  sect  that  exercises  liberty  in  the 
matter  of  ordinances.  I  think  that  ordinances  are  like  ti 
black-board  in  a  school.  It  is  good  to  put  things  on,  but  you 
do  not  want  to  put  one  thing  on  it  every  time.  It  is  a  thing 
to  demonstrate  by. 

I  do  not  think  that  infant  baptism  is  insisted  upon  in  the 
New  Testament.  I  do  not  see  a  vestige  of  it  there.  At  any 
rate,  the  nearest  approach  to  it  is  a  far-fetched  inference. 
Acd  yet,  I  practice  infant  baptism.  Why  do  I  do  it  ?  Be- 


200  LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES. 

cause  I  think  it  very  beautiful  and  helpful.  "Hem!"  you 
say,  "is  that  the  only  foundation  you  have  for  it?"  That 
is  foundation  enough.  "  To  profit  withal,"  says  the  apostle, 
meaning  that  these  gifts  of  the  spirit  are  to  be  profitable  ; 
and  when  any  ordinance  shows  that  it  is  profitable,  that  is 
all  the  warrant  that  you  want  for  it.  That  it  does'  good,  is 
voason  enough  for  any  thing.  But  you  claim  to  practice  it 
because  Christ  taught  it.  Where  did  he  teach  it  ? 

Now,  men  may  associate  together  for  ordinances  provided 
they  will  not  quarrel ;  provided  they  will  not  use  their  liberty 
to  break  down  other  men ;  provided  they  will  work  in  the 
spirit  of  Christ. 

We  find  that  the  various  churches  have  their  different 
ordinances,  and  that  they  are  characterized  by  them.  We 
find  that  the  Baptist  churches  are  set  apart  from  our  Congre- 
gational churches  by  nothing  greater  than  a  peculiar  mode  of 
baptizing.  Now,  excuse  me  ;  for  I  love  those  brethren,  and 
I  honor  their  sturdy  independence ;  and  yet,  the  older  I 
grow  the  more  I  feel  amazed  that  a  great  body  of  intelligent, 
educated  Christian  men  should  make  the  spirit  of  the  church 
in  Christ  Jesus  to  turn,  not  only  on  an  external  action,  but 
even  on  a  mode  of  performing  that  external  action  ;  and  that 
they  do  not  perceive  that  the  essential  element  of  Chris- 
tianity is  not  represented  by  such  minute  particularities 
as  that. 

Some  of  them  believe  in  keeping  the  seventh  day  of  the 
week  instead  of  the  first;  and  so  we  have  the  "Seventh-day 
Baptists."  Others  have  their  own  notion  respecting  man's 
free  will.  The  principle  of  free  will  not  having  found  any 
lodgment  in  the  old  Baptist  denomination,  a  new  one  has 
been  formed  to  show  that  there  is  such  a  will. 

So  three  sects  have  grown  out  of  one ;  and  I  assert  the 
liberty  of  every  one  of  them  to  organize  and  to  make  known 
their  doctrines  by  organization,  and  to  bring  as  many  to  their 
way  of  thinking  as  they  can.  And  this  liberty  of  theirs  is 
not  to  be  derided,  certainly  it  is  not  to  be  over  slaughed, 
though  you  may  not  agree  with  them. 

But  when  any  band  of  Christians,  having  associated  them- 
selves together  for  ordinances,  say,  not,  "  My  conscience  de- 


LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES.  201 

mands  this,"  but,  "  Your  conscience  shall  demand  it,  or  I 
will  punish  you,"  then  I  am  up  in  arms,  and  I  say,  "  Who 
art  thou  that  judgeth  another  man's  servant  ?  Am  I  your 
servant  ?  I  am  Jesus  Christ's  servant.  To  my  own  Master  I 
stand  or  fall.  Who  art  thou  that  judgest  me,  another  man's 
servant?"  You  may  argue  with  a  man  in  kindness  and  in 
love,  but  you  have  not  a  right  even  to  argue  with  him  until 
you  tire  him  out.  You  have  not  a  right  to  put  him  to  any 
inconvenience,  or  to  place  any  pain  or  penalty  upon  him,  be- 
cause he  differs  from  you. 

Men  say  that  the  time  of  persecution  is  past ;  bu  c  I  do 
not  think  it  is.  The  forms  of  persecution  are  changed  ;  men 
are  not  subjected  to  physical  violence  for  not  believing  in  this, 
that  or  the  other  thing;  but  they  are  punished  in  other  ways. 

They  are  punished  morally  ;  and  I  declare  that  moral 
penalties  in  a  community  are  more  severe  than  physical  ones. 
You  can  punish  a  man  by  thought-power  and  by  emo- 
tional power  as  you  cannot  by  thongs  or  by  the  sword.  And 
I  say  that  it  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity  for  any 
man  to  be  incommoded  because  he  does  not  hold  to  ordi- 
nances. You  have  a  right  to  hold  them,  and  to  promul- 
gate them ;  but  you  have  no  right  to  make  them  despotic, 
and  compel  men  to  conform  to  them,  and  chastise  them  for 
not  taking  them. 

We  have  a  right  to  associate  for  the  sake  of  certain  forms 
of  worship.  If  men  feel  that  a  gradually  accumulated  lit- 
urgy, through  the  ages,  has  power  to  excite  their  imagination, 
their  emotion,  their  reverence,  their  wisdom  and  their  love, 
who  shall  say  to  them,  "  You  shall  not  have  it"?  Who  shall 
interfere  with  their  liberty?  I  hold  it  to  be  not  alone  the 
.iberty  of  the  individual,  but  the  liberty  also  of  the  sect. 

I  hear  brethren  in  sister  churches  reviled  because  they 
have  introduced  the  responsive  reading  of  the  Psalms.  They 
have  a  right  to  It  if  they  like  it.  More  than  that,  they  have 
a  right  to  precomposed  forms  of  prayer  if  they  like  them. 
They  have  not  thereby  vacated  their  claims  to  Congregation- 
alism. 

Episcopacy  does  not  mean  forms  of  worship  :  it  means 
radical  ideas  of  government.  The  form;;  cf  vrcrrhip  urc  r.c- 


202  LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES. 

cidental  or  incidental.  That  which  is  radical  lies  in  the  es- 
sential administrative  element.  I  defend  for  sister  churches 
their  right  to  organize  their  worship  in  the  way  in  which  they 
can  administer  it  most  to  the  edification  of  their  people  ;  and 
I  defend  the  right  of  their  people  to  go  with  them  in  such  or- 
ganization. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  defend  the  right  of  good  and  Chris- 
tian men  to  go  to  church  without  a  book,  without  a  liturgy, 
without  a  minister,  without  a  sermon,  and  to  sit  for  two  mor- 
tal hours  still  as  flowers  at  midnight.  It  is  their  right.  It 
is  not  their  right  to  make  me  sit  there  ;  but  it  is  their  right 
to  organize  and  to  maintain  such  worship  as  profits  them. 
And  without  a  doubt  they  have  a  right  to  propagate  it,  if 
they  can,  by  fair  reasoning;  but  they  have  not  a  right  to 
point  to  it  and  say,  "  This  represents  universal  Christianity." 
I  say  that  all  these  forms  of  worship  are  "diversities  of  gifts" 
— parts  of  one  body  which  is  larger,  incalculably,  than  any 
of  them  ;  and  that  one  of  them  is  a  hand,  that  another  is 
a  foot,  that  another  is  an  eye,  and  that  another  is  an  ear. 
The  liberty  I  advocate  :  the  despotism  I  denounce. 

That  which  is  true  in  regard  to  ordinances  or  methods  of 
worship  is  just  as  true  in  regard  to  government.  What  a 
pother  the  world  has  had  as  to  who  should  govern.  Gener- 
ally, the  man  who  can,  does  it;  and  then  comes  the  reason  for 
it.  The  causes  are,  "  I  am  strong  and  you  are  weak,"  and 
the  reasons  are  sometimes,  "  God  ordained  me  to  reign,"  and 
sometimes,  "  The  people  appointed  me  to  be  their  ruler." 
The  cause  of  government  lies  in  the  sense  of  power  in  the 
governor,  and  in  his  conscious  capacity  to  make  men  mind. 

Now,  I  advocate  the  right  of  bodies  of  men  to  govern 
themselves  ;  and  if  a  large  and  respectable  body  of  intelligent 
men  say,  "  We  prefer  to  be  governed  by  priests,  and  to  have 
them  governed  by  bishops,  and  to  have  them  governed  by 
archbishops,  and  to  have  them  governed  by  cardinals,  and  to 
have  the  whole  of  them  governed  by  a  pope,  an  elder  brother, 
or  a  father ;"  and  if  they  say,  "  We  like  this,  and  we  claim  it 
as  our  right,"  they  have  a  perfect  right  to  it,  and  I  have  not 
a  word  to  say  against  it.  You  may  have  your  priests,  your 
bishops,  your  archbishops,  your  cardinals,  your  pope,  and 


LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHUKCHES.  203 

your  runon-law ;  but  you  shall  not  turn  round  and  any,  "  This 
i-  ( 'hristianity,  and  unless  you  take  it  you  shall  be  dp.mned." 
I  won't  be  damned ;  and  I  won't  take  it,  either !  I  affirm 
their  right  to  do  that  which  they  think  best ;  and  I  affirm 
their  right  to  think  that  that  is  the  pattern  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment ;  but  I  deny  their  right  to  impose  it  upon  others.  I 
affirm  the  right  of  a  man  to  say  to  me,  "  Why  don't  you  eat 
vinegar?"  and  I  affirm  his  right  to  say  to  me,  "Sit  down 
and  let  me  show  you  why  you  ought  to  eat  it;"  but  if  he 
puts  vinegar  on  my  plate,  and  insists  upon  my  eating  it,  that 
I  object  to. 

I  do  not  object  to  Episcopacy.  I  honor  the  Episcopal 
Church.  I  revere  multitudes  of  its  members.  Modern 
Christianity  owes  an  unpayable  debt  to  the  heroic  scholars 
and  ministers  of  that  church  who  lived  in  the  past — a 
great  and  noble  band ;  but  if  they  come  to  me,  and  say, 
"  We  are  Christ's  body  on  earth,  and  you  owe  to  us  the  alle- 
giance which  is  due  to  Christ,"  I  scoff  at  them,  and  say,  "  I 
do  not  owe  my  allegiance  to  Jesus  through  that  round-about 
and  humanly  invented  system."  My  allegiance  goes  straighter 
than  an  arrow  to  its  mark.  It  is  a  matter  between  me 
and  Jesus  Christ.  There  stands  my  liberty,  in  the  plenary 
power  of  my  own  manhood.  Therefore  I  defend  their  auto- 
nomy, and  their  liberty  in  it ;  and  I  defend  against  them  our 
liberty,  and  say  that  they  have  no  right  to  incommode  us  for 
not  taking  that  which  they  want,  because  we  see  differently 
from  them,  and  do  not  want  it. 

If  these  views  are  correct,  then  there  are  some  sequences, 
some  questions  and  answers,  that  arise  out  of  them,  and  that 
are  of  practical  import  in  our  time. 

First,  I  hold  that  no  man  has  a  right  to  enter  into  any 
Christian  church  or  communion  for  the  sake  of  changing 
the  economy,  the  doctrines  and  the  usages  of  that  church.  It 
is  bad  faith  to  do  it.  No  man  has  a  right  to  come  into  this 
church  for  the  sake  of  turning  it  into  a  Presbyterian  church. 
That  would  be  underhanded.  If  a  man  stands  over  the 
other  side,  not  coming  in  here  as  a  member  and,  with- 
out disguise,  openly  says,  "  I  am  going  to  spread  Presby- 
terian ism,  if  I  can,  through  your  church,"  that  I  consider 


304  LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES. 

to  be  right.  On  that  ground  there  is  ample  liberty.  A 
man  has  a  right  to  talk  with  you  in  the  street,  or  to  go  with 
you  to  your  house  and  reason  with  you  decorously  and  prop- 
erly, and,  if  he  can,  turn  you  into  a  Presbyterian  ;  but  no 
man  has  a  right  to  come  in  here  as  a  Congregationalist  with 
this  feeling:  "  I  like  Presbyterianism  better  than  I  do  Con- 
gregationalism ;  and  I  am  going  to  work,  little  by  little,  using 
the  organic  power  of  this  church,  to  undermine  it  and  change 
it."  That  would  not  be  manly.  It  would  be  dishonorable. 
It  would  not  be  fair-play.  No  man  has  a  right  to  go  into  a 
Congregational  church  to  Presbyterize  it ;  or  into  a  Baptist 
church  to  blow  up  its  Baptisteries;  or  into  a  Presbyterian 
church  to  break  down  its  Session,  and  bring  in  the  brother- 
hood form  of  government.  That  would  not  be  acting  fairly, 
nor  in  a  manly  and  honorable  way. 

Secondly,  no  man  has  a  right  to  employ  a  sectarian  organ  > 
ization  for  any  other  purpose  than  the  promotion  of  spiritual 
ends.  I  have  defended  the  right  of  church  organization  and 
equipment,  but  I  declare  that  under  their  allegiance  to  God 
all  church  organizations  are  responsible  for  the  use  of  their 
every  opportunity  to  the  great  end  that  is  prescribed  in  the 
New  Testament,  namely,  " profit  withal;"  and  the  "profit 
withal"  is  in  the  13th  chapter  of  First  Corinthians,  where  a 
higher  and  better  way  is  developed  by  divine  love  in  the 
hearts  and  dispositions  of  mankind.  All  churches,  while 
they  are  not  responsible  to  each  other,  and  while  they  cannot 
be  responsible  to  any  public  sentiment,  are  responsible  to 
God  for  the  use  of  their  whole  equipment  and  organization 
in  promoting,  not  a  narrow,  jealous,  combative,  pugnacious, 
irritable  spirit  among  men,  but  a  spirit  which  shall  liberalize 
men,  and  bring  them  nearer  to  each  other,  and  make  them 
feel  more  the  ties  of  common  brotherhood,  instead  of  setting 
a  man  against  his  neighbor.  There  is  an  obligation  resting 
on  the  Christian  church  which  has  not  been  enough  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  consciences  of  good  and  faithful  men — the 
obligation  of  using  all  the  external  forms  of  Christian  insti- 
tutions to  promote  the  great  end  of  Christianity,  which  is 
the  development  of  thevSpirit  of  God  in  the  souls  of  men. 

Thirdly,  no  man  has  a  right  to  impugn  the  motives  of 


LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES.  205 

those  who  choose  excessive  organizations.  That  is  to  say,  if 
a  man  is  very  rigorous  for  church  government,  high  or  low, 
no  one  has  a  right  to  impugn  his  motives,  or  to  refuse  him 
the  liberty  of  teaching  his  views. 

Out  of  these  facts  have  grown  many  questions,  in  every 
age  ;  and  they  exist  plentifully,  and  are  likely  to  exist  much 
more  largely,  in  our  own  day. 

May  a  man  enter  or  leave  a  church  when  he  dissents  from 
the  doctrines  which  are  held,  and  which  he  knows  to  be  held 
by  that  church  ?  May  a  man,  for  example,  go  into  an  ortho- 
dox church  knowing  that  he  does  not  hold  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  eternity  of  future  punishment  ?  May  a  man  go  into  an 
orthodox  church  when  he  knows  he  does  not  hold  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  as  it  is  held  by  the 
high  Calvinistic  preachers  ?  I  affirm  that  no  man  has  the 
right  to  go  into  any  church  for  the  sake  of  making  trouble ; 
for  the  sake  of  consciously  selfish  ends ;  but  if  for  special 
reasons  a  man  feels  that  any  particular  church  is  more  sure 
than  another  to  help  him,  and  to  promote  in  him  humility, 
meekness,  gentleness,  lovingness  and  lovableness,  he  has  a 
right  to  go  into  it.  A  man  has  a  right  to  go  into  any 
Christian  church  on  the  ground  of  "profit  withal."  Need 
is  a  sufficient  reason  for  a  man's  going  into  any  Christian 
church. 

Well,  should  he  go  without  making  known  his  dissent  ? 

If  the  church  chooses  to  inquire  with  regard  to  his  belief, 
and  scrutinizes  it,  he  is  bound  to  state  it,  but  not  otherwise. 
The  enabling  you  to  live  a  better  Christian  life  is  ample 
reason  for  you  to  go  into  a  church  ;  and  if  the  church  docs 
not  choose  to  defend  itself  from  persons  holding  doctrines 
different  from  its  own,  it  is  not  jour  business  to  make 
known  your  peculiar  views.  All  you  have  to  do  is  to  go 
there  sincerely  and  earnestly  for  the  purpose  of  living  a 
godly  life,  knowing  that  you  will  hear  articles  of  creed  pro- 
mulgated which  you  do  not  agree  with,  and  compromising 
with  yourself,  and  saying,  "  I  will  listen  to  these  things 
which  I  do  not  believe  for  the  sake  of  the  general  beneficial 
influences  which  I  shall  derive."  You  have  a  right  to  take 
that  stand  ;  and  there  is  no  unfairness  in  it. 


206  LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES. 

One  of  the  admirable  things  about  the  high  Episcopal 
churches  is  that  a  man  may  go  into  them  and  commune,  and 
not  be  disturbed  by  having  his  doctrines  inquired  into.  The 
views  of  the  ministry  are  examined  and  taken  care  of,  but 
the  members  are  received  on  the  ground  that  they  are  attempt- 
ing to  live  a  Christian  life  ;  and  the  liberty  which  these 
churches  accord  in  this  respect  is  truly  Christian.  The  liberty 
which  is  given  to  the  membership  in  the  Roman  Church,  and 
the  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  its 
higher  forms,  where  persons  are  accepted,  not  on  the  ground 
of  adherence  to  particular  beliefs,  but  on  the  ground  that  they 
come  to  be  instructed,  and  are  willing  to  receive  instruction, 
is  true  Christian  liberty.  The  position  which  they  take  in 
that  particular  is  one  which  might  well  prevail  throughout  all 
our  churches. 

Churches  are  good  for  nothing  in  and  of  themselves,  any 
more  than  any  other  organizations ;  but  men  have  come  to 
worship  churches.  If  they  do  not  think  them  to  be  gods, 
they  regard  them  as  in  such  a  sense  sacred  that  they  really 
have  a  feeling  of  idolatry  toward  them.  Therefore,  when  a 
man  thinks  of  going  into  the  church  a  feeling  of  awe  comes 
over  him. 

Now,  what  is  a  church  ?  It  is  an  instructing  body  which 
undertakes  to  help  men  toward  heaven ;  and  it  has  sanctity 
in  it  just  as  far  as  it  has  the  power  of  producing  results  in 
that  direction. 

A  church  that  has  the  power  of  producing  nothing  is 
like  a  garden  that  is  a  sand-heap.  Calling  a  sand-heap  a  gar- 
den does  not  make  it  one ;  and  calling  a  useless  body  of  a 
hundred  or  five  hundred  men  a  church  does  not  make  them 
worth  anything.  If  a  church  is  of  any  value,  it  is  because  of 
the  amount  of  power  which  it  exerts. 

What  is  the  test  of  fire-engines  ?  An  old  rattletrap  that 
is  a  hundred  years  old,  and  that  cannot  squirt  water  twenty 
feet  high,  is  not  worthy  to  be  called  a  fire-engine.  The  ma- 
chine that  will  throw  the  biggest  stream,  and  throw  it  the 
longest,  is  the  best  machine,  is  the  one  that  is  to  be  most  ad- 
mired, and  is  the  most  worthy  of  having  men  take  off  their 
hats  to  it  when  they  go  past  it ;  but  an  engine  that  cannot 


LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES.  207 

put  out  a  fire,  or  do  anything  else,  is  not  worth  your  taking 
off  your  hat.  It  is  good  for  nothing.  It  is  worse  than  that, 
because  it  makes  an  appearance  as  though  it  were  good  for 
something.  And  I  say  that  a  church  which  has  no  power, 
which  is  dead,  which  is  dry,  and  which  has  the  habit  of 
desiccating  those  that  come  into  it ;  a  church  which  is  like 
the  old  Jewish  tombs  that  were  cut  out  of  a  rock,  with 
shelves,  into  each  of  which  a  man  was  shoved,  there  to 
lie  until  the  judgment  came ;  a  church  which  is  merely 
furnished  with  cushioned  seats  in  which  men  are  to  sit  and 
be  respectable  and  stupid  at  the  proper  hours  on  Sunday 
morning — I  say  that  such  a  church  is  unworthy  of  venera- 
tion. It  is  only  the  love  of  God  among  men  that  has  a 
claim  to  our  reverence.  The  real  thing  in  religion  is  the  ex- 
istence and  exertion  of  moral  power  in  the  living  soul.  Not 
the  outward  enginery  that  the  soul  employs,  but  the  spirit  it- 
self— the  spirit  of  God,  or  the  spirit  of  man  awakened  by 
God's  spirit — that  is  the  real  thing.  Where  it  exists  under 
the  mitre,  it  is  venerable  ;  and  where  it  exists  under  the  ma- 
tron's cap  it  is  just  as  venerable.  It  takes  its  value,  not  from 
external  instruments  and  circumstances,  but  from  the  fact 
that  it  springs  from  God,  and  has  in  it  something  of  the  glory 
and  grandeur  of  divine  nature. 

We  are  now  regaled  with  the  fidelities  and  infidelities  of 
the  High,  the  Low,  the  Broad,  and  the  Evangelical  divisions 
of  the  Church  of  England.  I  read  their  papers  with  some 
diligence,  and  I  perceive  that  "a  brother  offended  is  harder 
to  be  won  than  a  strong  city."  I  see  that  the  High  church- 
man dislikes  the  Low  churchman  worse  than  he  does  men 
who  are  no  churchmen  at  all ;  and  I  perceive  that  the  Low 
churchman  dislikes  the  High  churchman  immensely— that  he 
likes  the  Presbyterian  a  great  deal  better.  I  can  see  that 
Evangelicals  are  very  bitter  against  those  that  are  heterodox, 
and  that  those  that  are  heterodox  are  very  bitter  against  the 
Evangelicals,  for  the  sake  of  exhibiting  their  zeal  for  love  ! 

Now,  the  question  that  is  asked,  is,  "Why  do  men  stay 
where  principles  are  held  with  which  they  are  not  in  accord?" 
Each  party  says,  "  We  are  the  church,  and  these  men  who 
dissent  from  our  doctrines  should  go  out.  We  represent  true 


208  LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES. 

churchism ;  and  why  do  those  who  do  not  want  it  stay  here 
to  vex  us  ?  Why  do  they  not  leave  the  church  ?" 

I  hold  that  they  have  a  right  to  stay  in  it.  I  plead  the 
liberty  of  a  man  to  remain  in  the  church  of  his  fathers.  I 
assert  the  right  of  a  man  to  stay  there  as  a  teacher,  so  that  he 
does  not  transcend  the  fundamental  organization  which  he 
has  sworn  to  support.  I  claim  for  him  the  right  to  a  wide 
liberty  of  conscience  in  interpreting  his  own  duty,  and  a  wide 
liberty  of  judgment  in  the  use  which  he  shall  make  of  the 
ritual  and  the  ceremonies  of  the  church.  I  aver  that  those 
who  are  High,  if  they  are  doing  good,  are  not  to  be  molested 
by  those  who  are  Low ;  and  that  those  who  are  Low,  if  they 
are  doing  good,  are  not  to  be  molested  by  those  who  are 
High.  It  is  contrary  to  the  essential  spirit  of  Christianity  for 
men  in  the  same  sect  to  persecute  each  other  on  grounds 
where  persons  may  rightfully  have  a  broad  margin  of  differ- 
ence. 

I  am  sorry  to  see  these  things  in  the  Episcopal  Church, 
it  was  the  church  of  my  mother  ;  and  if  there  were  no  other 
reasons  that  would  be  reason  enough  why,  as  long  as  I  live, 
I  should  pray  for  its  peace. 

The  fact,  that  in  every  large  body  of  men  there  are  two 
inherent  elements,  ought  never  to  be  forgotten.  We  do  not 
enough  take  into  account  that  there  are  certain  great  princi- 
ples of  human  nature  which  are  shaping  the  doctrines  and 
policies  of  Christianity  in  any  given  age.  We  are  apt  to 
forget  that  there  are  fundamental  influences  at  work,  and 
that  men  are  continually  hindering  or  fighting  against  each 
other.  For  you  may  depend  upon  it  that  in  every  large  body 
of  men  there  are  two  sorts,  one  of  which  represents  the 
element  of  personal  liberty  or  democracy,  and  the  other  of 
which  represents  the  element  of  aristocracy  or  monarchy. 
Society  breaks  up  into  these  two  divisions  naturally,  the  ob- 
ject of  their  separation  being  that  both  may  have  some  form 
of  enginery. 

For  instance,  in  Europe  the  civil  and  political  institutions 
for  the  most  part  represent  the  aristocratic  and  monarchic 
element ;  and  through  them  the  want  of  mankind  for  this 
element  is  satisfied.  The  churches  of  Europe,  for  the  most 


LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES.  209 

part,  represent  the  democratic  element.  All  classes  stand 
nearer  together  in  church  fellowship  in  Europe  than  they  do 
here.  For  in  America  political  institutions  represent  democ- 
racy. The  want  of  the  democratic  element  is  satisfied  in  the 
framework  of  our  government.  Our  churches  undertake  to 
satisfy  the  other  element — that  of  aristocracy.  The  churches 
in  America  are  more  aristocratic  than  the  churches  in 
Europe,  and  they  tend  to  be,  from  the  fact  that  here  the 
democratic  element  is  supplied  in  our  political  institutions, 
and  that  the  aristocratic  element  there  is  supplied  by  their 
political  institutions.  There  is  everywhere  a  want  of  the 
democratic  element,  and  a  want  of  the  aristocratic  element ; 
and  in  this  country  one  finds  itself  relieved  through  our 
political  institutions,  while  the  other  finds  itself  relieved 
through  our  church  institutions. 

In  a  community  of  two  or  three  thousand  people  a  church 
is  built  that  will  hold  perhaps  five  hundred  people  ;  and  that 
will  be  all  that  will  want  to  go  to  it ;  because,  in  the  main, 
churches  fall  into  the  habit  of  taking  in  those  that  are  the 
most  respectable — people  that  are  at  the  top  of  society.  The 
poor  and  needy,  by  and  large,  do  not  go  to  church.  They 
do  not  feel  that  it  is  their  home. 

Take  the  average  churches  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn, 
from  Murray  Hill  downward,  and  I  think  it  will  be  found 
that  the  aristocratic  and  prosperous  elements  have  possession 
of  them,  and  that  if  the  great  under-class,  the  poor  and 
needy,  go  to  them  at  all,  they  go  sparsely,  and  not  as  to  a 
home.  Men  of  all  classes  do  not  stand  in  our  churches  upon 
so  nearly  a  level,  on  so  democratic  a  footing,  as  they  do 
in  Europe.  Our  churches  are  largely  for  the  mutual  insur- 
ance of  prosperous  families,  and  not  for  the  upbuilding  of 
the  great  under-class  of  humanity. 

I  have  illustrated  this  at  large  in  order  to  bring  it  to  bear 
especially  upon  the  great  conflicts  which  are  going  on  in  the 
Episcopal  Church.  There  are  men  who  by  nature  and  cult- 
ure tend  toward  the  aristocratic  element;  and  we  see  that 
made  a  prominent  element  in  their  church  history  and  in 
their  church  books.  They  adhere  to  it  from  elective  affinity ; 
their  nature  inclines  toward  it  j  and  they  conscientiously  say, 


210  LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES. 

"  This  is  the  genius  of  the  church,  and  the  church  is  to  be 
administered  accordingly." 

Then  there  is  another  body  which  as  sincerely  represents 
the  democratic  element.  They  are  in  the  same  church. 
They  were  born  there,  or  they  came  there  at  an  early  period ; 
they  feel  at  home  there ;  and  that  is  their  house  as  much  as 
it  is  the  house  of  the  others  ;  and  they  say,  "  This  church  is 
to  be  administered  liberally,  democratically."  These  two 
elements  stand  and  charge  each  other  with  insincerity.  The 
Low  churchman  says,  "  You  are  going  off  to  Rome  ;"  and  the 
High  churchman  says,  "  You  are  going  off  to  Independency ;" 
and  each  of  them  is  attempting  to  administer  the  same  house- 
hold in  accordance  with  his  own  great  psychological  tendencies. 

It  is  said  often  (I  see  it  in  the  newspapers,  and  I  read  it 
with  great  respect — for  when  newspapers  undertake  to  teach 
Christianity  I  always  feel  disposed  to  listen),  "  If  a  man  does 
not  run  with  the  ruling  spirits  of  his  church,  what  is  the  use 
of  his  staying  in  it  ?  If  he  wants  something  more  Congrega- 
tional, why  does  he  not  go  into  a  Congregational  church  ?" 
Now,  this  has  good  sound ;  but  it  is  miserable  chaff.  Do 
you  suppose  that  a  man  who  is  in  the  church  is  there  just  as  a 
man  is  in  a  hotel  ?  I  go  over  and  stop  at  some  crowded  down- 
town hotel,  and  am  put  into  a  seventh-story  room,  in  August ; 
and  I  sleep — no,  I  stay — there  one  night.  The  next  morning 
I  go  down  and  pay  my  bill,  and  say,  "I  am  going  to  the 
Fifth  Avenue  Hotel."  But  I  have  not  abandoned  my  colors. 
I  was  not  well  accommodated  where  I  was.  I  was  not  com- 
fortable and  happy  there.  I  had  no  root  of  association  there. 
But  suppose  a  man  was  in  the  homestead  where  he  was  born 
and  brought  up,  and  where  he  hoped  to  live  all  the  days  of 
his  life,  and  suppose  it  should  be  said  to  him,  "  There  are  dif- 
ferences in  your  family ;  why  don't  you  clear  out  and  leave 
the  old  house  altogether?"  What!  leave  the  graves  of  my 
father  and  mother  ?  Leave  the  playground  of  my  boyhood  ? 
Leave  the  scenes  about  which  are  twined  recollections  of 
everything  that  is  most  sacred  to  me  ?  Am  I  to  tear  up  the 
most  precious  associations  of  my  life,  and  do  violence  to  all 
that  is  dear  in  my  memory,  and  transplant  myself  to  a 
strange  soil  ? 


LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES.  211 

When  a  man  is  bom  in  a  church,  it  is  not  simply  like 
going  into  a  hotel;  it  is  like  the  planting  of  a  tree  in  a 
garden,  where  its  roots  strike  deep,  and  where  its  branches 
spread  wide  ;  and  it  is  no  small  thing  for  him  to  go  out  of 
that  church  and  seek  religious  associations  elsewhere.  You 
cannot  transplant  an  oak  that  is  a  hundred  years  old  and 
have  it  live  and  thrive.  I  believe  that  young  people  can 
sometimes  safely  change  their  faith  ;  but  I  do  not  believe 
that  old  people  ever  can.  Changing  one's  faith  is  so  hazard- 
ous that  I  would  not  advise  persons  of  one  faith  to  abandon 
it  for  another.  I  would  never  try  to  convert  a  veteran  Roman 
Catholic  from  his  faith  to  the  Protestant  belief.  My  effort 
would  be,  rather,  to  make  him  a  better  Christian  where  he 
was.  I  would  not  do  anything  to  lead  him  to  change  his 
church  associations. 

If  a  man  says,  "  My  father,  and  mother,  and  brothers, 
and  sisters  were  baptized  by  immersion,  and  I  should  prefer 
to  be  baptized  in  that  way,  but  I  am  willing  to  be  baptized 
by  sprinkling  ;  I  say  "  Don't ;  be  baptized  by  the  mode  which 
will  be  most  in  accordance  with  your  feelings.  Baptism  is 
nothing,  in  and  of  itself,  whether  it  be  immersion  or  sprink- 
ling ;  but  if  you  have  been  all  your  life  in  association  with 
ideas  which  lead  you  to  prefer  to  be  immersed,  then  be 
immersed." 

And  if  it  is  argued,  "  "Why  does  not  this  man  or  that 
man  go  out  of  the  Episcopal  Church  ?"  my  answer  is,  that  a 
man  cannot  transplant  himself  from  one  church  to  another 
with  perfect  ease.  And  it  is  a  burning  shame  to  any  church, 
>r  bishop,  or  bishopric,  when  a  truly  holy  and  godly  man  is 
.villing  to  seek  the  welfare  of  those  who  are  under  his  charge, 
i  £  that  church  or  bishop  or  Disnopric  is  not  tolerant  enough 
h>  let  him  work  on,  although  there  are  special  and  minute 
differences  between  his  belief  and  theirs.  It  is  a  disgrace 
where  in  a  church  there  is  so  arrogant,  so  hard,  so  cold,  so 
unelastic  a  spirit  that  a  true  man  cannot  breathe  unless  he 
goes  out  of  it.  It  is  a  slander  on  Christianity.  And  I  say 
to  men  in  the  Episcopal  church,  who  work  toward  the  lower 
side,  stand  where  you  are.  Do  not  be  cast  out  of  your 
father's  house.  You  have  a  right  to  the  heritage  of  all  the 


212  LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES. 

honored  names  which  belong  to  the  history  of  that  church, 
and  to  all  its  sacraments  and  revered  associations,  which  are 
as  sweet  to  you  as  they  are  to  your  mitred  bishop.  You  have 
a  right  to  preach  baptism ;  and  you  have  a  right  to  say 
"Baptism"  instead  of  (<  Kegeneration."  Stand  for  your 
liberties,  for  your  God,  and  for  the  spirit  of  Christianity 
which  is  at  stake  in  the  conduct  of  the  church  ! 

If  tbere  is  a  principle  on  one  side  which  should  send  a 
man  out,  there  is  a  squadron  of  principles  on  the  other  side 
which  should  make  a  man  stay  in,  under  such  circumstances. 

The  same  question  may  be  argued  on  doctrinal  grounds. 
Just  at  the  present  time  the  trial  of  Prof.  David  Swing,  at 
Chicago,  by  the  Presbyterian  church,  is  exciting  great  inter- 
est ;  and  though  I  detest  puns,  yet  I  will  say  that  when  this 
trial  is  over,  his  name  should  be  changed  to  David  Sling. 
May  he  take  other  smooth  stones  from  the  brook  Kidron,  and 
emite  another  Goliath — the  Goliath  of  religious  despotism — 
between  the  eyes,  and  overthrow  him,  and  leave  him  lying 
dead  upon  the  ground. 

It  is  said,  "He  does  not  believe  in  the  doctrines  of  that 
church."  I  honor  him  if  he  does  not.  I  can  conceive  that 
a  man,  in  this  age,  with  a  sweet  and  tender  heart  and  dis- 
position, may  believe  in  the  Presbyterian  confession  of  faith  ; 
I  know  it  is  possible,  because  I  was  once  in  that  church,  and 
I  am  acquainted  with  the  experience  of  others  who  have  been 
in  it ;  but  I  do  not  think  that  one  in  ten  of  the  men  who  go 
into  the  Presbyterian  church  ever  propounds  to  himself  the 
fullness  of  the  doctrinal  statements  which  are  contained  in 
that  confession  of  faith,  or  believes  them,  as  they  were  origi- 
nally understood  by  the  men  who  framed  them. 

This  trial  of  Prof.  Swing  takes  me  back  to  the  time 
when  I  began  my  ministry,  in  1834 ;  when  I  went  from  Cin- 
cinnati, to  study  theology  under  my  father,  in  Lane  Sem- 
inary. Dr.  "Wilson,  then  setttled  over  the  church  in  which 
now  preaches  my  nephew,  whose  ordination  sermon  I  de- 
livered, set  the  battle  in  array  against  Lyman  Beecher. 
My  father  was  tried  for  heresy  in  not  believing  in  the  doc- 
trines of  the  confession  of  faith  of  the  Presbyterian  church 
in  the  United  States ;  and  I  think  that  trial  exhibited  as 


LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES.  -%l$ 

magnificent  an  instance  as  ever  was  on  record,  of  the  ingen- 
uity of  an  honest  man  making  it  appear  that  he  believed  in 
things  which  he  not  only  did  not  believe  in,  but  revolted 
against,  from  the  hair  on  top  of  his  head  to  the  soles  of  his 
feet! 

Do  you  ask,  "How  do  you  explain  it  consistently  with 
honesty?"  I  do  it  in  this  way:  These  statements  are 
susceptible  of  what  may  be  called  a  High  interpretation, 
and  a  Low  interpretation.  From  the  earliest  history  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  it  was  understood  that  in  bringing 
together  its  conflicting  elements  there  should  be  a  certain 
elasticity  of  interpretation,  so  that  men  should  not  be  mo- 
lested in  that  church  any  more  than  they  were  in  the  Church 
of  England,  in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  shaped  its 
policy  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  the  extreme  and  the  moder- 
ate Protestants  together,  and  give  the  one  a  chance  to  take  a 
little  pap  from  the  old  mother  without  being  interfered  with 
by  the  other. 

The  discordant  elements  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
being  thus  brought  together,  the  framework  of  doctrine  was 
not  so  rigorous  but  that  men  might  accept  it  for  substance, 
and  yet  not  accept  it  in  all  its  parts. 

Now,  when  the  Westminster  confession  of  faith  and  cate- 
chism came  over  from  England,  and  went  through  the  minds 
of  New  England  divines,  such  as  Hopkins,  and  Bellamy,  and 
the  elder  Jonathan  Edwards,  and  the  younger,  and  Dwight, 
and  when  the  Calvinism  of  New  England  had  undergone  an 
essential  modification,  it  was  called  Low  Calvinism,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  that  in  England  and  Scotland,  where  perhaps 
men  were  more  sturdy,  and  better  able  to  deal  with  such 
terrible  doctrines  as  those  of  the  system  of  Calvinism.  In 
the  Presbyterian  Church  \f  3re  men  who  held  the  New  En- 
land  view,  and  interpreted  theology  accordingly  ;  and  they 
constituted  the  New  School.  There  were  also,  in  that 
church,  men  who  represented  the  Scotch  and  English 
element,  which  prevailed  in  the  Middle  and  Western  States ; 
and  they  constituted  the  Old  School. 

These  two  Schools  were  pitted  against  each  other  ;  and  it 
should  be  recognized  that  from  the  beginning  there  was  an 


214  LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES. 

agreement  that  the  one  should  hold  the  lax  and  the  other  the 
rigorous  view.  But  in  connection  with  slavery  these  differ- 
ences split  the  church  asunder,  the  Old  School  going  by 
itself,  and  the  New  School  by  itself.  After  the  war,  how- 
ever, the  two  sections  came  together  again  ;  and  I  hoped  that 
the  understanding  that  on  the  one  side  the  Low  Calvinistic 
party  should  hold  the  Low  Calvinistic  doctrine,  and  that  on 
the  other  side  the  High  Calvinistic  party  should  hold  the 
High  Calvinistic  doctrine,  would  continue,  and  that  each 
would  be  judged  by  the  good  that  it  did  ;  but,  no ;  almost  in 
the  early  years  of  that  understanding  Prof.  Swing  is  called 
before  the  Presbytery  of  Chicago  for  taking  the  ground 
assumed  by  the  New  School. 

Professor  Patton  is  an  honorable  man,  no  doubt ;  but  he 
is  a  man  who  believes  in  machine  theology ;  who  insists  on 
doctrine  of  just  such  a  kind ;  who  wants  the  crank  to  turn 
just  so,  and  grind  out  regularly  creeds  and  dogmas  of  just 
such  a  pattern.  He  thinks  he  is  doing  his  duty.  His  con- 
science is  up.  He  feels  bound  to  bring  these  matters  to  the 
test.  I  hope  Professor  Swing  will  be  acquitted. 

But  the  point  of  special  interest  to  me  is  this :  Great 
efforts  are  being  made  to  bring  together  the  Presbyterian 
churches  of  every  name  —  the  Old  and  New  Schools,  the 
Dutch  Reformed,  the  Associate  Eeformed,  and  other  smaller 
bodies,  South  as  well  as  North  :  but  are  the  various  elements 
of  this  vast  Presbyterian  system  coming  together  on  the 
ground  that  there  is  to  be  no  elasticity  of  belief ;  that  there 
is  to  be  no  liberty  of  instruction  ;  that  the  men  who  hold  the 
hardest  doctrines  in  the  hardest  way  are  to  be  permitted  to 
take  the  knout  and  flog  everybody  who  holds  other  doc- 
trines in  other  ways  ?  We  are  interested  in  the  future  career 
and  usefulness  of  so  august  and  noble  a  body  as  the  Presby- 
terian Church  of  the  United  States.  My  love  for  her  will 
never  die.  She  was  my  foster-mother.  Under  the  cope 
of  that  church  I  began  my  labor  in  the  ministry.  I  never 
loved  and  never  shall  love  brethren  as  I  loved  those  men  in 
the  wilderness  with  whom  I  wrought  in  desolate  places,  going 
from  log-cabin  to  log-cabin,  preaching  in  the  forest,  and 
holding  camp-meetings.  They  were  men  doing  God's  work 


LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES.  215 

together  ;  and  as  good  a  body  of  men  as  ever  had  heart-beats 
under  human  ribs  were  they.  The  associations  of  that  church 
are  very  dear  to  me ;  I  love  it ;  I  honor  it ;  I  never  shall 
forget  its  usefulness ;  and  it  is  a  matter  of  moment  to  me 
which  spirit  is  going  to  pervade  it — the  spirit  of  monarchy, 
which  is  despotism  ;  or  the  spirit  of  Christ,  which  is  liberty. 

Therefore,  I  want  you  to  join  me  not  alone  in  sympathy, 
but  in  prayers  that  God  would  overrule  these  first  efforts 
which  are  being  made  to  persecute  a  man  who  exercises  his 
right  of  thought  and  expression  in  that  venerable  church, 
for  liberty  of  thinking,  for  liberty  of  teaching,  and  for  lib- 
erty of  administration. 

Although  I  have  talked  longer  than  I  ought  to  have  done 
on  this  subject,  I  must  add  one  single  word  to  what  I  have 
said  ;  and  it  is  this  :  Far  be  it  from  you,  and  far  be  it  from 
me,  to  look  upon  these  dissensions  in  the  different  churches 
with  ill-concealed  gladness.  I  am  sorry  for  their  divisions. 
I  would  do  the  things  that  make  for  peace,  if  peace  could 
only  be  made  with  liberty  of  conscience  and  liberty  of 
administration.  I  am  sorry  for  their  turbulence.  I  would 
not  put  a  straw's  impediment  in  their  way. 

I  do  not  rejoice  to  see  these  conflicts  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  I  never  could  go  into  that  church  again  ;  I  do  not 
believe  that  in  some  respects  it  maintains  the  spirit  or  the 
letter  of  Christianity ;  nevertheless  the  great  body  of  its 
teaching  is  good,  and  its  effect  in  the  community  is,  beyond 
all  controversy,  beneficial.  It  is  an  admirable  and  noble 
church,  built  when  blows  had  to  be  struck  thick  and  fast,  in 
dangerous  places,  for  the  liberty  of  man's  consciences,  and 
for  the  liberty  of  the  church  itself.  I  honor  this  old 
church  ;  and  having  been  so  many  years  in  her  bosom  I 
sympathize  with  everything  that  is  for  her  prosperity,  and 
regret  everything  that  is  against  her  welfare.  I  desire  her 
peace ;  and  therefore  I  pray  that  her  ministers  may  not  be 
bound  in  thought,  but  may  feel  that  they  have  a  right  to 
preach  and  administer  "to  profit  withal;"  and  that  the 
spirit  of  her  pulpit  may  be  this:  "How  shall  we  present 
the  truth  of  Christ  Jesus  so  that  selfishness  shall  be  slain,  so 
that  pride  shall  be  humbled,  or  that  purity  shall  be  estab- 


216  LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES. 

lished,  and  so  that  men  shall  be  lifted  into  the  manhood  and 
glory  of  the  sons  of  God  ? " 

Blessed  be  every  man,  whether  he  be  heretic  or  orthodox, 
who  so  preaches  that  men's  lives  are  amended,  and  that 
their  dispositions  are  transformed  ;  and  woe  be  to  every  man 
or  church,  which  preaches  doctrines, — and  loses  mankind ! 


LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES.  217 


PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON.* 

WE  thank  thee,  our  heavenly  Father,  that  thou  hast  caused  the 
sun  to  know  his  journey  and  his  duty;  and  that  there  are  now  com- 
ing forth  children  of  light  in  all  the  earth— flowers  of  beauty.  We 
thank  thee  that  thou  art  again  lifting  thy  banners  upon  the  trees,  and 
tilling  the  air  with  warmth;  and  that  summer  is  drawing  near  with 
all  its  blessedness,  its  fruits,  its  sights  of  beauty,  and  its  sounds.  We 
thank  thee  that  not  alone  without,  but  within  also,  come  the  spring 
and  the  summer;  and  that  we  hear  the  voice  of  birds,  and  behold  the 
flowers  that  are  born— not  such  as  shall  perish  again,  but  flowers  im- 
mortal— to  grow  here,  and  to  be  transplanted  for  better  growing  here- 
after. 

Will  the  Lord  bless  the  dear  children  that  have  been  brought  in 
their  helplessness  hither;  and  grant  that  it  may  be  unto  them  even  as 
their  parents  desire  in  their  best  hours  and  in  their  best  thoughts  re- 
specting them.  May  they  teach  them  the  industries  of  life.  May 
they  train  them  in  habits  which  shall  make  them  good  and  prosper- 
ous men.  Grant  that  they  may  evermore  feel  that  the  life  of  their 
children  is  not  in  the  things  which  pertain  to  this  world,  and  that 
they  are  rearing  them  for  immortality  and  for  glory.  May  they  have 
strength  and  wisdom  given  them  to  be  patient  and  to  be  hopeful 
in  spite  of  all  difficulties,  and  to  persevere  unto  the  end.  And  grant 
that  the  lives  of  these  thy  servants  may  be  a  perpetual  gospeJ  to  their 
children.  May  the  children  know  the  truth  of  Christ  by  beholding  it 
in  those  who  are  rearing  them.  We  pray  that  their  life  and  health 
may  be  precious ;  that  they  may  be  spared  to  grow  up  into  manhood, 
and  take  part  and  lot  in  the  great  works  of  life.  Or,  if  thou  wilt  call 
them  by  a  speedier  way,  and  with  not  so  long  an  exile  from  heaven 
upon  earth,  prepare  thy  servants  to  yield  up  to  God  these  most  prec- 
ious gifts  which  they  now  take  from  his  hand. 

And  we  pray  that  all  those  who  are  bearing  in  their  bosoms  and 
upon  their  hearts  heavily  the  care  and  the  anxiety  of  their  children 
may  know  how  to  cast  these  burdens  upon  the  Lord.  May  they 
know  how  to  bring  their  little  children  to  Jesus,  and  rejoice  to 
behold  them  sitting  on  his  knee,  and  him  blessing  them,  with  his  arms 
about  them,  and  his  hands  upon  their  heads. 

We  pray,  O  God,  that  thou  wilt  comfort  any  to  whom  the  sight  of 
these  children  brings  pain,  reminding  them  of  their  own  dear  ones 
that  have  gone  to  be  with  thee,  and  quickening  their  sadness  and 
their  sorrow.  May  they  still  have  that  comfort  which  is  in  the  gos- 
pel of  Jesus  Christ  for  their  mourning  hearts.  May  they  know  that 
there  is  divine  compassion  for  every  one  that  hath  been  called  to  bear 
affliction  and  drink  the  bitter  cup.  May  they  know  that  there  is  in 
the  bosom  of  Christ  that  sympathy  and  consideration  evermore  for 
all  who  suffer. 

Grant  that  all  those  who  come  up  hither  to-day  from  troubles  and 


*  Immediately  folio  winy  the  baptism  of  children. 


218  LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES. 

afflictions  of  various  kinds  may  find  in  thy  presence,  in  thy  truth,  in 
thy  sympathy,  arid  in  the  scenes,  and  prayers,  and  gladness  of  thine 
house,  cheer  and  consolation ;  that  they  may  rest  from  their  labor, 
that  they  may  be  healed  of  their  sorrow,  and  that  they  may,  by 
faith,  by  hope,  by  forelookiug  and  by  upward  looking,  leave  behind 
them  the  drudging  burdens  of  this  life,  and  stand  in  their  own 
apprehension  as  sons  of  God  and  heirs  of  immortality. 

We  pray  for  thy  blessing  to  rest  upon  every  one  in  thy  presence — 
upon  those  who  are  burdened  with  the  cares  of  life ;  upon  those  who 
do  not  know  what  duty  is;  upon  those  who  find  duty  difficult  when 
it  hath  been  interpreted  to  them ;  upon  all  that  are  endeavoring,  in 
rough,  rude  places,  still  to  maintain  consistently  the  walk  and  con- 
versation of  true  disciples  of  Christ. 

Give  thy  Spirit  to  every  one  according  to  his  need  and  infirmity. 
Deal  with  us,  we  beseech  of  thee,  not  according  to  our  desert,  but 
according  to  thy  generosity.  We  pray  for  thy  blessing  to  rest  upon 
us,  to-day,  not  only  in  the  services  of  this  great  assembly,  but  in  our 
school-rooms ;  and  in  the  labors  of  thy  servants,  in  the  streets,  in 
hospitals,  in  jails,  among  the  sick — everywhere.  Wherever  thy  will 
is  done,  wherever  the  name  of  Christ  is  spoken,  and  wherever  the 
truth  of  Christ  is  made  known — there  may  thy  presence  be  felt,  and 
there  may  thy  blessing  be  enjoyed. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  more  and  more  as  we  go  forward  in 
life,  that  we  may  behold  the  blessed  termination  of  it,  bright,  and 
growing  brighter ;  and  that  we  may  never  be  weary  in  well-doing, 
knowing  that  in  due  season  we  shall  reap  if  we  faint  not,  and  that  he 
that  endureth  unto  the  end  shall  be  saved.  Grant  that  we  may  have 
unfaltering  patience  and  fidelity  in  the  lot  to  which  thou  hast  ap- 
pointed us. 

Bless  thy  cause  everywhere.  Give  strength  to  those  who  seek  the 
purification  of  morals.  Remember  those  who  go  forth  to  make  known 
the  truths  of  Christ  in  destitute  or  waste  places.  Be  with  those  who 
sacrifice  pleasure  and  comfort  that  they  may  teach  the  poor  and  hum- 
ble and  unfortunate  among  us. 

Grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  our  whole  land  may  become  Imman- 
uel's.  May  it  be  evangelized.  May  the  public  conscience  be  intoned 
to  a  higher  nobility  and  a  better  manhood. 

We  pray  for  our  rulers;  for  our  magistrates  and  judges;  for  all 
who  are  in  authority.  Will  the  Lord  guide  them  to  equity,  to  purity 
of  morals,  to  rectitude  of  administration ! 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  bless  the  army  and  navy,  and 
the  officers  that  are  in  them.  Grant  that  they  may,  in  their  perilous 
duties,  whether  by  land  or  by  sea,  know  thy  protecting  care.  May 
those  who  govern  men  themselves  obey  God,  the  Supreme  Governor, 
implicitly. 

We  pray  not  for  our  own  land  alone,  but  for  all  lands.  Grant  that 
thy  cause  may  be  furthered  in  them.  And  bless  all  those  with  whom 
we  are  in  more  immediate  sympathy,  that  we  may  stand  together  for 
the  right,  for  the  spread  of  liberty,  and  for  those  things  which  con- 
spire to  make  nations  strong,  and  intelligent,  and  free.  Overthrow 
superstition,  and  drive  away  injii'iraiu'c;  and  at  last  advance  the 


LIBERTY  IN  THE  CHURCHES.  219 

whole  race  to  the  light  and  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ.    Let  thy  king- 
dom uome,  let  thy  will  be  done  in  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 

And  to  thy  name  shall  be  the  praise,  Father,  Sou,  and  Spirit. 
Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

OUR  Father,  wilt  thou  bless  the  word  spoken.  May  it  enlarge  our 
charity,  and  yet  make  us  love  the  truth.  May  it  increase  our  tolera- 
tion for  one  another,  and  yet  deb'ver  us  from  indifference.  May  we 
know  what  things  to  value;  what  things  to  emphasize;  and  yet  may 
ail  that  we  do  be  done  in  the  large  spirit  of  catholicity  and  forbear- 
ance. May  we  bear  with  each  other.  May  we  love  one  another  more 
and  more.  More  than  every  other  instrument  may  we  employ  the 
spirit  of  true  divine  love.  Let  thy  kingdom  come.  Let  thy  will 
be  done  upon  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven.  We  ask  it  for  Christ's 
sake.  Amen. 


THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 


"What!  know  ye  not  that  your  body  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  which  is  in  you,  which  ye  have  of  God,  and  ye  are  not  your 
own  ?  For  ye  are  bought  with  a  price :  therefore  glorify  God  in  your 
body  and  in  your  spirit,  which  are  God's."—!  COB.  vi.  19,  20. 


The  Christian  obligations  which  lie  upon  us  in  the  direc- 
tion of  physical  health  and  strength  and  beauty  are  almost 
unknown  to  ascetic  theology.  We  have  come  down  bearing 
yet  in  us  the  effect  of  the  false  theology  which  taught  men  to 
despise  this  world,  and  to  call  it  all  manner  of  names;  to 
despise  the  man  in  the  body,  and  to  inculcate  the  duty  of 
destroying  a  large  part  of  man's  nature.  By  a  perversion 
of  the  figurative  language  of  Scripture,  men  have  been 
taught  that  it  was  their  duty  to  sacrifice  the  affections  and 
appetites  and  passions,  in  order  that  the  spiritual  life  might 
have  power  —  which  is  as  if  one  should  teach  shipmasters 
making  voyages  in  steamers  to  put  out  the  furnace,  and 
to  keep  all  grease  from  the  engine-room,  in  order  that  the 
cabin  might  be  kept  sweeter  and  pleasanter.  You  might  roll 
forever  in  an  eternal  storm  or  calm  if  you  destroyed  propul- 
sion. Power  in  the  hull  is  necessary  to  the  well-being  of  the 
cabin  ;  and  power  in  the  human  body  is  essential  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  mind.  It  has  not  anything  that  needs  to  be  ex- 
tinguished. There  is  not  an  appetite  too  many.  There  are 
no  passions  which  are  not  needful.  We  are  compactly  and 
symmetrically  organized.  Harmonization,  regularity,  sub- 
ordination —  these  are  needed;  our  rampant  affections  need 
to  be  tamed  ;  they  need  to  be  brought  under  some  intelligent 


EVENING,  April  12,  1874,    LESSON  :  Psalm  xlx.,  HYMNS  (Plymouth  Col. 
lection)  :  FOB.  1006,  1001,  1020, 


224  THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 

plan ;  they  need  to  maintain  their  position  as  servants,  and 
should  never  be  allowed  arrogantly  to  assume  the  port  and 
mien  of  masters ;  but  they  are  not  to  be  put  out. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  are  to  honor^the^bpd^  It  is  a 
part  of  our  Christian  duty~to  lionor  it,  by  vigor,  by  health, 
by  all  that  fruitfulness  in  worldly  ways  which  springs  from 
buoyancy  of  spirit  and  soundness  of  body;  and  he  sins 
against  himself  who,  by  appetite  and  passion,  or  in  any 
other  way,  perverts  the  uses  of  his  body. 

I  purpose,  to-night,  not  so  much  to  discuss  directly  the 
subject  of  Temperance,  as  to  present  the  subject  at  large  as 
it  lies  in  my  mind  ;  and  this  with  reference  to  a  general  view, 
suggesting  some  considerations  which  ought  to  enter  into  our 
daily  life,  and  into  all  the  exertions  which  are  being  made  in 
our  time  to  stay  the  evils  of  intemperance. 

There  are  naturally  two  departments  of  this  subject. 
The  one  is  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  or  injurious  sub- 
stance? ;  and  the  other  is  the  use  of  them.  Both  of  these 
themes  are  now  brought  before  the  minds  of  our  citizens ; 
and  we  are  called,  and  must  be  called,  inevitably,  to  act  in 
regard  to  them  both. 

I  shall  speak  first  as  to  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks. 
This  depends,  not  on  anything  that  is  inherent  in  it,  but  on 
that  it  supplies  the  strongest  and  most  impetuous  crav- 
ing which  human  nature  can  know.  I  suppose  that  there  is 
no  other  demand  so  strong  as  the  morbid  taste  for  stimu- 
lants ;  and  just  as  long  as  men  crave  them  with  all  the  im- 
petus of  their  being,  just  so  long  that  craving  will  be  sup- 
plied. You  may  make  up  your  minds  to  that.  If  men  have 
to  dig  a  thousand  fathoms  deep,  and  build  walls  in  the  very 
center  of  the  earth,  they  will  build  them  ;  and  as  long  as 
the  demand  for  intoxicating  drinks  remains,  so  long  it  will  be 
supplied,  clandestinely  or  openly.  Therefore  this  traffic, 
either  illicit  or  permitted,  will  exist  so  long  as  those  morbid 
conditions  and  cravings  exist  which  create  a  demand  for  it  in 
society. 

The  knowledge  of  this  fact  does  not  touch  the  theory  of 
right  or  wrong,  but  it  touches  the  question  of  prudence  in 
procedure.  In  regard  to  the  right  of  the  community  to  ex- 


THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION.  225 

tirpate  this  traffic  if  it  can,  there  is  in  my  mind  no  doubt  ) 
whatsoever.  If  we  have  a  right  to  regulate  every  part  of  ^ 
business  for  the  public  weal,  to  forbid  the  sale  of  poisonous 
elements  except  under  certain  regulations  and  conditions,  to 
forbid  that  men  shall  carry  concealed  weapons,  to  maintain 
t!ie  peace  of  the  whole  community  by  one  and  another  restric- 
tion, then,  certainly,  we  have  the  same  right,  in  a  more  imper- 
ative form,  to  defend  the  community  against  an  evil  which 
sums  up  in  itself  almost  every  other  evil  which  is  known  to 
human  society.  To  say  that  you  have  no  right  to  suppress 
the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  is  to  indulge  in  an  unwar- 
rantable license  of  speech.  It  is  one  thing  to  say  that  you 
have  no  right ;  it  is  another  thing  to  say  that  it  is  not  expe- 
dient. 

In  regard  to  what  is  called  the  "  Maine  Law,"  which 
absolutely  forbids  this  traffic,  that  law  is  right.  It  is  con- 
formable to  all  the  analogies  of  civil  society.  There  is  but 
one  single  fault  to  be  found  with  it — you  cannot  make  it 
work.  If  you  could,  I  think  there  would  be  an  end  of  the 
argument.  You  may  enforce  it  in  neighborhoods,  in  partic- 
ular communities ;  but,  looking  upon  this  nation,  I  anticipate 
that  a  hundred  years  will  not  see  such  an  educated  public 
sentiment,  nor  such  conditions  of  general  living  and  health, 
as  will  make  it  possible  to  maintain  such  a  law. 

I  was,  from  the  earliest  day,  an  advocate  of  that  law.  I 
believe  it  still,  as  much  as  ever  I  did,  to  stand  in  just  princi- 
ples, and  to  be  a  thing  much  to  be  desired  ;  but  I  have  given 
up  the  expectation  of  seeing  it  exist  with  any  considerable 
working  force  in  our  time. 

Then  it  was  supposed  that  if  you  could  not  enforce  a  law 
absolutely  excluding  drink,  perhaps  you  might  indirectly  gain 
the  end  sought  by  making  the  men  who  traffic  in  intoxicating 
drinks  responsible  for  all  the  mischiefs  which  they  do.  Well, 
that  did  look  feasible ;  but  it  does  not  work,  either.  Men 
will  not  prosecute  nor  serve  as  witnesses  in  such  cases; 
magistrates  drink  ;  and  the  desired  results  are  not  produced, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  the  consequences  of  inordinate 
drinking  are  dubious,  and  that  the  worst  mischiefs  are  of  a 
kind  which  you  cannot  meet  with  law.  It  may  be  that  if  a 


226  THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 

man  goes  home  and  brutally  beats  his  wife  and  children,  and 
sets  fire  to  his  house,  and  burns  it  down,  you  may  catch  him, 
and  have  him  punished  ;  but  the  thousand  irregularities,  the 
want  of  attention  to  business,  the  ill-temper,  the  sourness  of 
disposition,  and  the  disgrace  and  misery  and  wretchedness  of 
the  household,  which  grow  out  of  this  traffic — how  are  you 
going  to  prefer  charges  and  collect  damages  for  having  pro- 
duced these  ?  Although,  when  this  plan  was  first  adopted, 
men  felt  that  at  last  the  great  principle  had  been  struck,  the 
devil  was  not  caught  nor  bridled  nor  saddled  that  time. 

Well,  it  is  thought  that  local  option  may  be  a  modified 
form  of  the  Maine  Law.  It  seems  to  me  more  reasonable 
than  any  other  of  the  expedients  which  have  been  devised  ; 
for  there  are  many  neighborhoods  where  I  think  the  vote  of 
a  large  majority  can  be  obtained  to  prevent  the  promiscuous 
manufacture  and  exposure  for  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks. 
In  so  far  as  that  has  been  tried,  I  believe  it  has  been  to  a 
very  large  extent  with  benefit  ;  and  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  we  may  expect  good  results  from  local  option,  or  the 
determining  of  each  town  for  itself  whether  license  shall  be 
granted  within  its  limits  or  not.  It  is  very  certain  that 
regulation  of  the  traffic  may  be  effected  by  that  means,  and 
that,  a  right  public  sentiment  being  formed,  we  may  hope, 
even  in  our  large  cities,  to  shear  off  much  of  its  mischief. 
Drinking-bouses  may  be  shut  up  on  the  Lord's  day  ;  they 
may  be  shut  up  on  days  of  election  ;  they  may  be  shut  up 
except  where  they  are  licensed;  they  may  be  brought  under 
police  inspection  or  surveillance ;  many  restrictions  may  be 
laid  upon  them.  If  this  result  is  not  attained,  it  will  be  the 
fault  of  the  great  body  of  citizens  who  do  not  demand  it,  and 
do  not  support  those  whose  business  it  is  to  secure  it.  Mag- 
istrates and  executive  officers  will  always  enforce  those  laws 
which  the  great  body  of  citizens  demand  that  they  shall 
enforce.  That  which  you  want,  and  will  have,  you  can 

khave ;  but  never  can  you  find  magistrates  and  officers  who 
will  do  for  you  disagreeable  work  which  you  do  not  want  to 
do,  nor  have  anything  to  do  with.  If  you  suppose  that  you 
can  appoint  legal  scullions,  and  have  them  do  all  the  disa- 
greeable work  of  the  community,  while  you  stay  at  home  and 


THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION.  22? 

rejoice  that  society  is  being  scoured  and  washed  and  made 
clean,  you  do  not  understand  human  nature.  You  cannot 
do  it.  Under  such  circumstances  the  work  will  not  be  done. 
Police  regulation  and  restriction  will  go  just  as  the  public 
sentiment  goes.  It  will  be  strict  when  public  sentiment  is 
stringent,  and  lax  when  public  sentiment  relaxes. 

It  is  in  vain  for  men  to  call  for  new  laws  when  they  do  not 
secure  the  execution  of  the  wholesome  laws  which  they  al- 
ready have.  It  is  in  vain  for  them  to  inveigh  against  the 
police  for  not  enforcing  laws  which  they  do  not  demand  the 
enforcement  of.  If  some  interpreting  policeman,  with  an 
eloquent  tongue,  were  to  stand  in  my  place,  and  tell  what  he 
sees  good  citizens  do,  and  what  he  sees  them  shirk  doing ;  if 
such  a  policeman  were  to  tell  you  how  he  looks  at  human 
society  and  good  citizenship,  I  think  we  should  have  a  more 
wholesome  all-round  knowledge  than  now  we  have.  It  is  very 
easy  for  you,  in  the  morning,  while  drinking  your  coffee,  to 
utter  a  little  curse  upon  the  delinquency  of  the  police  force ; 
Jnit  thcv  are  as  you  are^  If  you  hide  yourself,  if  no  moral  in- 
fluence  goes  out  from  you,  you  might  as  well  expect  that  your 
water-mill  would  run  without  any  river  to  turn  the  wheel,  or 
that  your  wind-mill  would  grind  without  wind,  as  that  your 
laws  will  be  executed.  Magistrates  will  not  do  their  duty  un- 
less you  are  a  moving  force,  compelling  them  to  do  it. 

So  far,  then,  as  regulation  is  concerned,  it  seems  to  me 
that  very  much  more  may  be  done  to  shear  off  the  grossness 
and  ubiquity  of  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  than  has 
been  done ;  but  as  far  as  its  suppression  is  concerned,  that 
largely  awaits  the  time  when  men  shall  imperiously  de- 
mand it. 

Let  us  look,  then,  at  the  other  department  of  this  sub- 
ject, and  consider  the  fact  that  our  reformatory  exertions 
must  be  directed  largely  upon  those  who  use,  or  may  be 
taught  to  use,  intoxicating  drinks. 

When  the  temperance  reformation  first  began,  we  had  to 
take  such  light  as  we  could  get ;  and  it  is  not  strange  that 
there  were  very  many  reasons  given  for  courses  which  were 
not  as  wise  in  practice  as  they  were  sound  in  principle.  The 
reform  principle  which  men  first  found  was  that  the  use  of 


1 


228  THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 

intoxicating  drinks  was  to  men  in  health  needless,  and  so 
dangerous  ;  and  that  therefore  it  was  both  politic  and  a  moral 
duty  to  abstain  from  it  absolutely.  I  think  nothing  has  been 
taken  from  that  principle,  and  that  nothing  has  been  added 
to  it.  It  is  just  as  sound  to-day  as  it  was  in  the  beginning. 
It  was  a  kind  of  divine  providence  that  led  men  to  this  very 
simple  ground,  which  every  man  understands,  and  which  ad- 
dresses itself,  first  or  last,  to  the  reason  of  the  great  bulk  of 
the  community.  Intoxicating  drinks  are  not  needful  to  men 
in  health,  and  men  in  health  had  better  let  them  absolutely 
alone.  It  is  easier  to  let  them  alone  than  to  tamper  with 
them,  or  to  tell  how  much  or  how  little  they  may  be  in- 
dulged in. 

But  in  undertaking  to  persuade  men  to  banish  intoxicat- 
ing drinks  if  they  had  used  them,  or  not  to  touch  them  if 
they  had  never  learned  to  use  them,  men  fell  upon  reasons 
which  would  not  bear  proof  ;  and  it  is  not  strange.  Physi- 
ology is  every  year  disclosing  newer  and  newer  views;  and  it 
is  not  surprising  that  it  is  found  that  the  old  doctrines  were 
in  many  respects  false. 

For  example,  there  springs  up  a  school  in  the  community 
which  teaches  that  all  stimulants  of  every  kind  are  bad  :  not 
alcoholic  stimulants  alone,  but  tea  and  coffee,  pepper  and 
salt,  and  everything  else  that  tastes  good.  When  I  come  to 
consider  what  things  have  been,  by  one  school  and  another, 
shown  to  be  mischievous,  I  marvel  that  the  race  exists  yet  on 
earth !  If  I  were  to  follow  physiological  doctrines  as  I  see 
them  laid  down  in  journals  of  health  and  hygiene,  and  as 
they  are  taught  by  the  frantic  schools  that  are  endeavoring  to 
reform  the  community,  I  should  not  dare  to  take  meat,  and  I 
should  not  dare  to  take  anything  with  which  to  qualify  my 
vegetables.  Salt  is  declared  to  be  bad.  I  am  told  in  one 
quarter  that  pepper  is  extremely  bad.  I  am  told  in  another 
quarter  that  I  must  give  up  vinegar — except  in  the  disposi- 
tion !  Everything,  first  or  last,  is  condemned.  You  must 
not  eat  raised  bread.  Yeast  in  bread  is  bad.  If  saleratus  is 
put  into  it,  it  is  worse  yet.  Fat  in  your  food  is  bad.  Almost 
everything  that  belongs  to  cooking  has  had  its  blow.  And 
there  are  those  in  the  community  who  expect  that  they  are 


THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION.  339 

going  to  draw  men  into  their  school  on  the  general  doctrine 
that  stimulants  are  bad. 

Now,  there  is  nothing  that  you  call  food  which  is  not 
stimulating ;  and  a  doctrine  which  generally  sweeps  away 
stimulants  will  never  prevail.  It  will  have  some  adherents 
here  and  there  ;  but  this  is  a  matter  in  which  everybody  has 
liberty  in  nature — a  liberty  with  which  grace  will  not  inter- 
fere. If  common  sense  does  not  interfere  with  it,  nothing 
will.  Every  man  has  a  right  to  regulate  his  own  diet ;  and 
any  attempt  to  reform  the  community  must  proceed  on  a 
ground  which  will  meet  the  sober  sense  and  the  experience  of 
men. 

Therefore,  those  schools  that  are  carrying  a  crude  and 
incorrect  physiology  to  the  extreme  I  regard  as  standing  in 
the  way  of  temperance  reform — not  as  helping  it. 

Take  the  theory  of  reaction.  I  remember  myself  to  have 
made  very  strong  appeals  for  this  theory,  saying  to  men, 
"  Every  particle  that  you  drink,  every  degree  that  you  raise 
the  tone  of  your  system  by  stimulants,  will  cause  you  to 
rebound  to  the  other  extreme,  and  you  will  go  down  just  as 
far  as  you  go  up."  I  thought  it  was  true ;  but  there  never 
was  a  falsity  greater  than  that.  The  reaction  is  not  accord- 
ing to  the  action.  Under  certain  circumstances,  in  excep- 
tional cases,  it  may  be  ;  but  if  you  take  minute  quantities  of 
alcoholic  stimulants  you  produce  one  class  of  effects,  and 
produce  them  without  reaction. 

It  was  my  lot  to  live  in  the  western  country  where  men 
were  subject  to  congestive  fevers  which  were  more  dangerous 
and  deadly  than  any  yellow  fever ;  and  the  most  prodigous 
stimulants  were  administered  to  patients.  Ammonia,  brandy, 
and  a  variety  of  other  stimulants  of  the  most  intensive  char- 
acter were  given  to  them  every  ten  minutes.  According  to 
this  theory,  after  taking  such  stimulants  they  should  have 
been  dashed  down  into  a  bottomless  pit  of  reaction ;  but 
there  was  no  reaction  whatever.  On  the  contrary,  they  were 
carried  on  and  over  the  gulf  of  congestion,  and  were  cured. 

This  fact  opened  my  eyes  to  the  untruth  which  inhered 
in  the  primitive  argument  that  the  system  could  be  carried 
up  by  stimulants  only  to  undergo  a  corresponding  waste  of 


230  THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 

its  stock.  I  saw  that  it  was  wrong  physiologically.  And  the 
mischief  of  such  an  argument  is,  that  when  men,  having 
heard  it  stated,  find  out  that  it  is  not  true,  they  lose  faith  in 
all  other  arguments  on  the  subject  of  temperance,  and  say, 
"  I  know  they  are  all  false." 

The  same  objection  holds  good  against  the  poison-theory 
on  which  Mr.  Greeley  used  to  found  his  whole  temperance 
doctrine.  He  took  the  ground  that  alcoholic  stimulants 
were  absolutely  poisonous.  If  that  could  be  proved,  all  the 
rest  would  be  very  easy ;  but,  though  I  do  not  consider  alco- 
holic stimulants  food,  and  although  I  do  consider  many  of 
them,  by  reason  of  their  adulterations,  as  poisonous ;  yet  I 
do  not  regard  them  as  poisonous  in  every  case.  For  instance, 
I  do  not  think  that  wine  and  cider,  or  even  brandy  and 
whisky,  are  in  and  of  themselves  poisonous,  though  they  may 
be  made  poisonous  under  certain  circumstances. 

How  absurd  it  is  to  tell  a  young  man  whose  grandfather 
never,  morning  or  noon,  forgot  to  take  his  dram,  and  lived 
to  be  eighty-six  years  old,  and,  when  he  was  seventy-five  could 
lift  a  barrel  of  cider  and  drink  from  the  bung — how  absurd 
it  is  to  tell  such  a  young  man  that  alcoholic  stimulus  is  a 
slow  poison  !  He  laughs  at  you.  It  is  a  poison  under  cer- 
tain circumstances ;  but  to  undertake  to  base  an  argument 
which  shall  meet  the  experience  and  the  convictions  of  the 
whole  community  on  such  a  theory  as  this  is  to  take  away 
from  yourself  the  sympathy  of  the  common-sense  of  the 
great  bulk  of  the  community — if  they  observe  and  think. 

It  is  said  that  alcoholic  stimulus  is  not  a  food,  that  it 
builds  nothing,  and  that  the  system  does  not  need  it.  I 
suppose  that  is  in  accordance  with  the  facts  of  physiology. 
But  is  it  right  to  assume  that  nothing  is  needed  by  the  body 
except  that  which  is  a  part  of  its  constructive  force  ?  Does 
it  follow  that  there  are  no  other  wants  besides  constructive 
wants  ?  There  are  many  eminent  physiologists  who  say  that 
tobacco,  in  very  moderate  quantities,  and  that  even  opium 
and  alcohol,  in  very  small  doses,  are  nerve-preservers.  They 
assert  that  there  are  two  effects  which  are  produced  by  these 
stimulants,  the  first  of  which  is  conservation.  They  take 
the  ground  that  any  given  amount  of  action  of  the  brain  or 


THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION.  231 

the  nervous  system  wastes  that  brain  or-  nervous  system  less 
where  very  minute  quantities  of  alcohol  or  other  stimulants 
are  employed.  They  say  that  the  second  effect  of  stimulants 
is  a  narcotizing  one,  and  that  if  you  augment  the  dose  you 
go  on  to  this  second  and  entirely  different  stage,  and  come  to 
a  condition  of  incipient  intemperance  or  intoxication. 

Now,  to  teach  that  men  should  avoid  alcoholic  stimulants 
because  they  are  not  food,  and  from  that  to  infer  that  they 
have  no  function  at  all  under  any  circumstances,  is  not  to 
blind  intelligent  men,  but  is  to  repel  them.  In  other  words, 
it  seems  to  me  that  we  must  make  our  physiology  consistent 
with  our  observation  and  experience.  I  would  rather  say  to 
the  young  men  under  my  charge,  "  Do  not  drink  alcohol ; 
_because  you  do  not  need  it  and  because  you  run  many  risks 
in  drinking  it.  You  do  not  know  what  is  in  your  blood 
hereditarily.  You  do  not  know  what  are  those  conditions  of 
your  nervous  system  which  may  break  out  under  stimulants 
into  morbid  states  which  will  sweep  you  away.  You  do  not 
know,  if  the  habit  of  indulgence  in  intoxicating  drinks 
should  be  formed  in  you,  what  trouble  and  anguish  would  be 
the  result.  You  do  not  know  what  work  would  be  done 
upon  you  and  in  you.  And  observation  should  teach  you 
that  this  habit  is  so  perilous,  even  aside  from  physiological 
considerations,  that  every  man  should  say  to  himself,  '  Let 
me  be  healthy  on  good  food,  letting  alone  artificial  stimulants 
of  every  kind."1  On  this  ground  I  can  urge,  with  a  clear 
conscience,  on  my  parishioners  and  friends,  abstinence  from 
indulgence  in  the  use  of  alcohol — namely,  on  the  practical 
observational  ground  that  it  is  not  needed  for  health,  and 
that  it  is  full  of  risks  and  perils. 

On  this  not  only  practical,  but,  as  it  seems  to  me,  common- 
sense  ground,  it  is  in  vain  to  expect  that  we  shall  carry  the 
community  with  us  immediately,  and  generally,  and  finally. 
I  make  this  remark  because  I  feel  that  to  a  very  large  extent 
temperance  movements  have  been  organized  on  the  idea  less 
of  "A  long  pull,  a  strong  pull,  and  a  pull  all  together," 
than  on  the  idea  that  the  work  is  one  which  can  be  done 
up  at  once  and  got  rid  of  ;  but  you  never  will  have  done  with 
it.  The  restraining  of  men  from  intemperate  stimulants 


232  THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 

must  be  a  part  of  the  staple  work  of  each  generation.  As 
long  as  men  live  in  physical  bodies  you  never  can  .cleanse  the 
community  from  intemperance.  Every  age  must  attend  to  it 
for  itself,  arid  follow  it  up.  If  intemperance  were  like  the 
measles  or  varioloid,  which  you  can  have  but  once  ;  if  having 
fallen  into  it,  you  could  get  rid  of  it  once  for  all,  that  would 
be  another  thing ;  but  the  desire  for  basilar  excitements  is  a 
part  of  the  animal  nature.  The  reasons  that  are  acting 
upon  men  in  this  regard  are  in  their  nature  continuous. 
They  will  go  on  to  your  children,  and  to  their  children. 
And  all  the  paroxysmal  efforts  of  men  to  give  extraordinary 
attention  to  this  subject  for  a  little  while  in  order  to  destroy 
intemperance,  and  then  have  a  rest,  or  opportunity  to  attend 
to  something  else,  are  ill-timed.  They  may  do  some  good, 
but  they  will  not  destroy  the  force  of  this  great  evil.  We 
must  consider  that  the  liability  of  men  to  super-stimulation 
is  one  of  those  elements  which  belong  not  alone  to  savage 
life,  in  which  it  takes  on  a  brutal  form,  but  preeminently  to 
civilized  life. 

Savages  drink  in  order  to  experience  what  may  be  called 
mental  pleasure.  Having  no  thought  power,  no  imaginative 
power,  no  joy  from  intellectual  forces,  they  attempt  to  pro- 
duce a  glowing  enthusiasm  by  the  use  of  stimulants.  As 
society  becomes  more  civilized  and  more  mentally  active,  men 
drink  in  order  to  produce,  not  the  lower  forms  of  excitement, 
but  that  state  of  mind  and  body  by  which  they  shall  be 
enabled  to  work  more  efficiently  and  continuously — by  which, 
in  other  words,  they  shall  be  enabled  to  put  the  work  of 
twenty  hours  into  the  space  of  ten  ;  or  by  which  they  shall 
be  enabled  to  do  four  times  the  usual  amount  of  work  in  any 
given  period.  These  are  the  general  influences  which  are 
tempting  men  to  use  intoxicating  drinks.  And  we  are  to 
take  this  cause  of  temperance  and  make  it  a  labor  of  human- 
ity, of  patriotism,  of  morality,  and  of  religion,  in  the  school, 
in  the  newspaper,  everywhere,  continually,  every  generation 
for  itself,  working,  working,  working. 

One  of  the  first  elements,  then,  in  this  reformatory  work, 
should  be  the  diffusion  of  knowledge.  It  should  go  on  at  all 
times.  I  am  bold  enough  to  say  that  if  you  cannot  secure 


THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION.  233 

entire  abstinence  from  drink,  it  is  a  great  deal  better  that 
you  should  teach  men,  if  they  will  drink,  how  to  drink  with 
the  least  harm. 

I  know  that  one  reason  which  men  give  lor  not  drinking 
liquor  is  that  it  is  adulterated,  and  so  is  poisonous  and  dan- 
gerous. That  depends  very  much  upon  what  it  is  adulterated 
with.  If  it  be  adulterated  with  water,  I  do  not  think  it  is 
any  more  poisonous  than  it  was  before.  A  little  burnt  sugar 
in  brandy  to  give  it  a  color  I  think  does  not  hurt  it.  The 
trouble  of  drinking,  it  seems  to  me,  is  in  the  license  of  it, 
and  in  the  excess  with  which  men  drink ;  and  when  it  is 
said,  "Get  light  wines,  and  ale,  and  cider,  and  beer,  and 
metheglin,  and  what  not,  in  the  place  of  intoxicating  drinks," 
I  say,  "  Well,  if  I  were  to  have  my  choice  between  brandy  and 
gin  and  whiskey  and  rum,  and  these  lighter  stimulants,  and 
if  I  could  drive  the  one  out  by  the  other,  I  do  not  know  but 
I  should  be  willing  to  make  the  exchange,  and  introduce  the 
era  of  light  wines  ;"  but  in  America  men  do  not  drink  wire, 
nor  ale,  nor  beer  for  the  sake  of  congeniality,  and  they  are 
not  going  to  slide  off  from  the  stronger  onto  the  lighter  and 
weaker  stimulants.  Men  drink  light  wines  as  the  first  step 
towards  drinking  heavy  wines ;  and  they  drink  heavy  wines 
as  the  next  step  towards  drinking  whiskey ;  and  they  drink 
for  the  same  reason  that  they  put  coal  in  the  furnace  and 
wood  in  the  stove — because  they  want  fire.  Therefore,  to 
attempt  to  bribe  men  who  want  super-stimulation  to  drop 
rum  and  brandy  and  whiskey,  and  go  back  to  ale  and  beer 
and  cider  and  light  wines,  is  in  vain.  They  will  not  do  it 
unless  you  permit  them  to  swell  the  amount,  and  make  up  in 
quantity  what  they  lack  in  quality.  We  are  a  practical 
people,  and  we  drink  on  purpose,  for  an  object ;  and  I  do 
not  think  you  will  cure  the  conflagration  by  persuading  men 
to  take  embers  instead  of  great  fires.  It  seems  to  me  that ' 
good  food,  properly  prepared,  is  a  great  deal  more  likely  to 
stay  the  progress  of  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  than  wines, 
or  ciders,  or  ale,  or  beer. 

There  is  another  thing  which  I  want  to  say,  and  which  I 
do  not  wish  to  be  misunderstood  in  saying.     While  I  strongly 
the  disuse  of  intoxicating  drinks  on  the  part  of  men 


234  THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 

in  health  and  vigor,  yet  I  repeat  again,  that  it  is  better  that 
they  should  understand  the  real  physiology  of  things,  and 
the  ways  in  which  liquors  act  on  the  human  system,  so  that 
they  may  determine  the  times  and  conditions  under  which  it 
is  least  harmful,  rather  than  that  they  should  blunder  on 
without  any  knowledge  on  the  subject  whatsoever. 

You  will  see  a  French  gentleman  who  has  been  instructed 
from  his  childhood  how  to  drink  wine,  looking  with  amaze- 
ment on  the  raw  and  awkward  way  in  which  our  American 
people  gulp  it.  They  who  use  it  continuously,  and  in  using 
it  guide  themselves  by  experience,  know  how  to  use  it  so  that 
its  effects  are  less  injurious  than  they  otherwise  would  be ;  but 
we,  having  been  taught  not  to  touch  it  at  all,  yet  being 
determined  that  we  will  have  it,  break  through  all  restraints, 
and  do  not  know  how  to  use  it,  and  take  it  on  empty 
stomachs,  at  untimely  hours,  and  in  inordinate  quantities, 
and  so  are  more  harmed  by  it  than  we  would  be  if  we  had 
been  enlightened  as  to  how  it  operates.  We  drink  without 
reason,  because  we  drink  blindly  and  wildly ;  and  I  wish 
there  might  be  instruction  on  this  subject.  I  would  say  to 
young  men,  first,  "  Do  not  drink  at  all ;"  but  second,  "  If  you 
will  drink,  drink  so  and  so ; "  because  I  hold  it  to  be  better 
for  men,  if  they  do  not  accept  advice  to  abstain  wholly,  that 
they  should  know  how  to  skillfully  avoid  the  worst  evils, 
the  extremest  forms  of  mischief,  arising  from  intemper- 
ance. 

This  would  seem  to  weaken  the  temperance  movement. 
Many  men  fear  that  such  a  docti  ine  as  this  would  appear  to 
admit  the  principle  that  drinking  under  certain  circumstances 
might  be  allowable.  It  is  thought  to  be  unwise  in  a  preacher 
or  temperance  advocate  to  admit  even  that  it  is  better  that 
men  should  drink  a  little  wine  with  their  food,  or  that  they 
should  take  a  thimbleful  of  brandy  under  certain  circum- 
stances. It  is  easier  and  cheaper  to  say,  "  Take  no  stimu- 
lants at  any  time."  There  is  nothing  so  easy  and  cheap  as 
radicalism — as  taking  a  simple  principle,  and  shutting  your 
eyes,  and  rushing  with  it  like  a  bull.  It  is  so  easy  and  so 
cheap  that  many  persons  are  carried  away  by  it ;  but  a  great 
many  others  are  left  behind. 


THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION.  235 

Now,  for  one,  my  first  exhortation  would  be,  "  If  you 
are  in  health  and  strength  and  vigor,  steer  clear  of  all  intox- 
icating drinks,  everywhere,  and  always ;  hut  if  you  will  not 
take  that  advice,  then  do  not  go  blindly  on  in  their  use. 
There  are  more  injurious  ways  and  there  are  less  injurious 
ways  of  indulging  in  stimulants — take  the  least  injurious 
ways." 

There  are  many  efforts  besides  those  which  are  directly 
brought  to  bear  upon  men  that  must  be  organized  and  made 
into  active  forces  before  we  shall  gain  a  great  deal  of  bead- 
way  in  the  matter  of  doing  away  with  intemperance. 

In  the  first  place,  I  do  not  think  we  are  going  to  bring 
about  perfect  temperance  by  merely  attempting  to  shut  off 
intoxicating  drinks.  You  must  civilize  the  kitchen.  You 
must  apply  physiological  wisdom  and  knowledge  to  the 
department  of  cookery.  I  consider  good  cooking  to  be 
almost  as  beneficial  as  a  pledge.  Bad  cooking  is  a  perpetual 
temptation  to  drink.  In  other  words,  let  men  eat,  as  they 
do,  detestable  bread — sour,  half-baked ;  let  them  eat  food 
swimming  in  fat,  and  saturated  with  it ;  let  them  eat  dried 
salt  meats,  not  only  reeking  with  rancid  and  unwholesome 
fat,  but  cooked  to  a  crust,  hard  as  a  horn  ;  let  them  eat  what 
they  will  find  if  they  take  a  journey  through  the  West,  in  all 
the  restaurants  and  hotels,  and  they  will  very  speedily  be  in 
a  condition  in  which  they  want  "bitters."  Many  men, 
under  such  circumstances,  say,  "  In  health  I  am  a  temper- 
ance man  ;  but  really,  the  water  so  disagrees  with  me  in  this 
neighborhood,  that  I  must  have  something  to  help  myself 
out!" 

We  have  gone  on  advocating  entire  abstinence  ;  we  have 
gone  on  urging  men  to  let  liquor  alone  ;  but  we  must  add 
something  to  that ;  there  must  be  more  knowledge  in  respect 
to  wholesome  food,  and  in  respect  to  the  best  mode  of  pre- 
paring it. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  prejudice  against  luxurious 
tables.  The  devil  is  supposed  to  reside  and  preside  where 
luxury  spreads  its  dainties;  fine  food,  delicately  served, 
is  considered  to  belong  to  the  last  stages  of  effeminacy  ;  but 
t!i3re  are  more  devils  in  inihrostible  food  than  in  all  the  lux- 


r 


236  THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 

uries  on  earth.  The  evils  arising  from  eating  improper  food 
exist  very  widely  among  our  people. 

Take  for  instance,  the  article  of  butter.  Where  there  is 
one  pound  of  butter  that  any  Christian  man  ought  to  eat, 
there  is  a  ton  that  ought  to  be  thrown  overboard  into  per- 
dition. One  of  the  total  depravities  in  diet  consists  in  the 
eating  of  bad  butter. 

When  Spring  comes,  redolent  of  pastures,  we  enjoy 
butter.  In  the  Summer  we  go  on  eating  butter,  but  it  is  not 
so  good  as  it  was  in  the  Spring.  In  the  Autumn  butter 
becomes  more  and  more  detestable  ;  but  still  we  eat  it.  No- 
body seems  to  know  enough  to  stop  eating  it  when  it  does 
not  taste  good ;  so  we  go  on  damaging  continually  the  condi- 
tions of  health.  But  no  man  can  be  healthy  who  does  not 
have  some  regard  for  the  stomach,  and  avoid  eating  those 
things  which  clog  the  liver  and  destroy  the  purity  of  the 
blood.  One  of  the  greatest  causes  of  unhealth  is  injudicious 
eating.  The  great  majority  of  blue-devils  with  which  men 

\  to  contend  come  from  the  morbid  appetites  and  desires 
which  spring  from  a  want  of  regulation  in  their  tables. 
One  of  the  greatest  blessings  that  could  be  bestowed  upon 
men  would  be  a  knowledge  of  how  to  cook  food  so  that 
it  should  be  healthful. 

A  woman  may  pray  at  home  and  abroad,  and  read  as 
many  tracts  as  she  pleases:  but  a  diet  of  apple-dumplings, 
and  unleavened  short-cake,  and  a  thousand  other  things 
which  are  supposed  to  be  simple,  and  harmless,  uncooked  or 
badly  cooked,  will  be  a  match  for  all  her  tracts  and  prayers. 
£gfjorm_thftiable,  and  give  pure  health,  so  that  men  shall 


feel  sweet  and  buoyant  and  songful  when  they  wake  up  in 
the  morning,  and  they  will  scarcely  be  tempted  to  drink  ;  but 
give  them  a  heavy  stomach  after  every  meal,  and  let  them  go 
gulping  and  flatulent,  and  suffering  from  heartburn,  and  de- 
pressed, not  knowing  what  ails  them,  and  you  may  be  sure 
that  they  will  be  tempted  more  from  that  cause  than  from 
any  other.  There  is  great  temptation  to  drink,  in  wrong 
dietetic  habits.  Much  of  the  intemperance  in  communities 
has  its  rise  in  such  habits.  The  oven  as  well  as  the  shop 
needs  to  be  looked  after.  ^^L  — 


THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION.  237 

Then,  there  must  be,  also,  more  provision  made  for  the 
enjoyment  of  the  common  people.  I  think  we  Americans 
know  how  to  work  better  than  any  other  people  on  earth, 
and  how  to  enjoy  ourselves  less.  We  come  of  a  stock  that  is 
not  of  a  holiday  temper.  I  think  a  Yankee  never  seems 
so  awkward  as  when  he  has  a  whole  day  in  which  he  is 
trying  to  amuse  himself.  "  If  I  only  had  something  to  do," 
he  says,  "  I  should  know  how  to  go  at  that ; "  but  how  to  be 
happy  with  nothing  to  do  is  the  very  thing  which  he  does  not 
know. 

Men  in  this  country  are  happy  when  they  are  working ; 
but  when  they  have  amassed  a  fortune,  and  have  retired,  and 
are  trying  to  be  happy,  they  are  bunglers.  In  democratic 
communities  like  our  own,  where  men  are  on  an  equality, 
every  man  is  inspired  with  zeal  and  ambition,  and  is  striving 
to  build  up  his  fortune.  The  principle  of  equality  being  the 
great  stimulus,  inciting  men  to  industry,  the  tendency  is 
to  shut  out  innocent  amusements.  But,  for  my  part,  I 
believe  there  is  an  element  of  the  Gospel  in  recreation — in 
those  things  which  entertain  without  damaging  ;  and  that  in- 
stead of  attempting  to  prevent  men  from  indulging  in  amuse- 
ment, it  is  a  thousand  times  better  that  they  should  be  en- 
couraged to  do  so.  I  thank  God  for  the  prevalence  of  athletic 
games.  The  gambling  which  sometimes  accompanies  them  is 
no  reason  why  they  should  not  maintain  their  place.  What 
you  should  do  is  to  purge  them  of  all  that  is  bad.  I  do 
not  believe  in  young  men's  going  to  gambling  saloons  for  the 
purpose  of  playing  billiards ;  but  I  do  believe  in  their 
having  billiard  tables  at  home.  I  do  not  believe  it  is  well  for 
men  to  play  cards  in  public  places ;  I  do  not  believe  it  is 
ever  well  for  them  to  play  for  stakes  ;  but  if  father,  and 
mother,  and  brothers,  and  sisters,  will  stay  at  home,  and 
make  a  happy  circle,  and  play  cards,  I  will  not  discounte- 
nance it.  I  do  not  say  that  I  think  it  wise  for  persons  to 
leave  their  work  and  join  in  frolics  for  whole  days  and  weeks 
and  mouths  at  a  time  ;  but  I  believe  that  there  should  be 
a  part  of  every  man's  time  from  day  to  day  in  which  he  can 
simply  enjoy  himself  and  have  liberty  of  amusement. 

I  do  not  believe  that  while  men  are  unhappy  you  can  save 


238  THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 

them  from  drinking.  Everybody  longs  for  sentient  happi- 
ness ;  and  if  he  cannot  have  it  in  his  surroundings,  if  it  is 
not  to  be  found  in  his  family,  if  it  does  not  come  to  him  in 
business,  if  his  prospects  are  darkened,  and  his  stomach  and 
liver  are  in  revolt — in  all  these  circumstances  it  is  expecting 
more  from  human  nature  than  it  will  ever  answer,  to  suppose 
that  he  will  not  attempt  to  alleviate  his  distress  by  stimulus. 
Therefore  you  must  attend  to  the  whole  condition  of  the  com- 
mon people,  as  an  auxiliary  influence,  if  you  would  success- 
fully carry  on  the  temperance  reform. 

More  than  that,  I  think  there  must  be  imparted  by  Chris- 
tianity a  view  of  the  future  which  shall  give  more  hope  and 
more  cheer,  and  develop  more  sweetness  in  men. 
We  have  had  a  conscience-culture.     1  define  Calvinism  to 

^j  be  the  doctrine  of  the  omnipotence  of  the  divine  Will ;  I  de- 
f  fine  Christianity  to  be  the  doctrine  of  the  omnipotence  of  the 
^.  divine  Love  ;  and  from  Calvinism,  which  is  the  religion  of  na- 

>*  ture  unenlightened,  springs  our  intense  pressure  upon  the 
consciences  of  men.  It  makes  some  grand  men.  It  makes 
grand  men,  because  if  they  survive  they  must  needs  have  been 
very  grand  men  to  bear  up  under  it ;  but  it  passes  by  and 
leaves  untouched,  or  crushes,  a  hundred,  where  it  builds 
one. 

Now,  we  have,  very  largely,  in  Protestant  communities, 
the  intensive  forms  of  belief  which  come  from  more  rigorous 
doctrines  that  were  timely  when  men  were  breaking  away 
from  the  seduction  of  old  superstitions,  and  which  had  rela- 
tions to  certain  works  in  special  ages ;  but  we  are  living  in 
times  when  we  need  to  mould  the  whole  community  by  more 
cheer,  more  sweetness,  more  hope  and  more  vitality  in  relig- 
ion than  those  forms  can  give.  Under  such  circumstances,  I 
should  expect  that  the  prevalence  of  the  milder  type  of  ex- 
perience, with  less  intensiveness,  and  with  more  trust  and  rest 
and  confidence,  would  be  a  powerful  auxiliary  to  temperance — 
to  the  restraining  of  men  from  over-stimulations  of  every  kind. 
^  Everything,  then,  that  tends  to  make  the  household  happy, 

rf  to  bring  a  man  home  to  his  family,  to  lead  him  to  take  his 
wife  and  children  with  him  when  he  goes  abroad — every  such 
thing  will  be  a  help  in  staying  the  tide  of  intemperance.  It 


THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION.  239 

is  very  difficult  for  a  whole  household  to  drink.     It  is  very 
easy  for  a  man  to  drink  when  he  goes  away  from  home  alone. 

In  Germany,  I  went  to  the  gardens  where  people  go  for 
music  and  beer,  and  I  was  told  that  if  we  could  only  intro- 
duce such  gardens  into  America  we  should  have  much  less 
intemperance — that  beer  would  be  an  immense  auxiliary  to 
the  temperance  reformation.  My  own  impression  is  this  :  that 
we  have  cut  the  thing  in  two.  We  have  introduced  the  beer, 
but  we  have  notintroduced  the^aiDil^^temBnt — for  I  noticed 
that  a  man  would^owi^nmsgooa/mw^na  sixteen  or  less 
children  ;  and  that,  big  and  little,  they  would  swarm  around 
a  table.  The  household  all  went  together,  and  the  going  to-  ••_ 
gether  was  the  best  thing  about  it.  It  was  that  which  exer- 
cised moderation  and  restraint  upon  each  and  all. 

One  of  the  criticisms  which  I  make  upon  the  habits  of  "^v 
our  people  is  that  our  young  men  do  not  want  to  go  out  with      J 
their  sisters.    There  is  nothing  less  reputable,  I  think,  in  our 
social  customs,  than  the  habits  of  a  young  man  who  is  not 
proud  to  wait  upon  his  mother.     No  young  man  ought  to  — 
live  who  does  not  feel  himself  to  be  more  a  man  because  he  is 
permitted  to  walk  in  the  street  and  be  seen  with  his  mother 
leaning  on  his  arm.     Woe  to  that  young  man  who  does  not 
want  to  wait  upon  his  sister — who  says,  "  What  fun  is  there 
in  going  with  one's  sister  r"     He  who  wants  the  stimulus  of 
a  stranger,  or  he  who  has  not  home  loves  so  strong  but  that 
the  presence  of  another  is  better  to  him  than  that  of  one  who 
was  born  of  the  same  mother,  and  who  has  been  reared  under 
the  same  roof,  is  in  a  bad  way.     One  of  the  most  sacred  in- 
fluences is  that  which  grows  up  in  the  affections  which  are 
bred  from  the  same  cradle.     It  is  not  so  bad  that  a  young  •>. 
man  should  go  forth  from  his  family  for  pleasure  if  he  will  2_  __ 
take  his  sister  or  his  mother  with  him 
alone  and  seek  his  pleasure  away  from  tneinfluences  6 
family  renders  him  subject  to  the  lower  temptations  of  hu- 
man nature.    I  think  that  if  we  would  make  our  homes  hap- 
pier, the  great  bulk  of  our  people  would  not  seek  happiness 
outside  of  the  household,  but  would  abide  at  home,  or,  when 
they  went  forth,  would  all  go  together ;  and  I  believe  that  the 
result  of  this  would  be  a  great  auxiliary  to  temperance. 


£40  THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 

But  in  order  to  this,  we  must  come  down  in  prices. 
Many  a  man  cannot  go  to  the  Academy  of  Music  and  take 
his  wife  and  all  his  children.  At  a  dollar  a  head  he  could 
not  indulge  in  that  luxury  more  than  once  or  twice  a  year. 
What  we  very  much  want  is  recreations — concerts,  lectures, 
public  instructive  entertainments — to  which  men  can  go 
with  their  whole  households,  and  which,  when  they  return 
to  their  homes,  they  can  make  a  theme  of  conversation  and 
criticism.  A  good  lecture — one  that  pleases  men  when  they 
listen  to  it — will  stir  them  up,  and  will  lead  them  to  read 
and  discuss,  sides  being  taken,  and  comments  being  made. 
Such  facilities  would  be  an  efficient  means  of  educating  the 
masses;  but  it  is  impossible,  with  the  steep  prices  which 
are  maintained,  for  the  great  bulk  of  our  citizens  to  go 
largely  to  public  entertainments.  There  needs  to  be  a  funda- 
mental change  in  the  direction  of  cheap,  social,  demo- 
cratic amusements  among  our  common  people ;  and  when 
you  make  men  happy  in  their  work,  happy  in  their  homes, 
happy  when  they  are  at  the  table,  and  happy  afterwards,  the 
temptations  to  intemperance  will  be  greatly  lessened.  Al- 
though wholesome  food  and  pleasing  associations  will  not 
make  them  necessarily  temperate,  it  will  draw  them  away 
from  many  of  those  temptations  to  intemperance  under 
which  multitudes  now  fall. 

Allow  me  to  say,  in  regard  to  the  prosecution  of  temper- 
ance by  those  who  are  its  advocates,  that  we  seem  to  be  in 
the  same  danger  which  exists  everywhere  in  human  society — 
the  danger  of  bigotry.  Men  in  the  church  are  reviled  as  being 
bigoted  ;  and  with  propriety.  They  are  so  ;  but  they  are  not 
any  more  so  than  men  out  of  the  church.  You  shall  hear 
men  say,-*' They  won't  exchange,  eh?  Mr.  Beecher  won't 
exchange  with  Dr.  Hall,  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  Doctor 
Hall  won't  exchange  with  Mr.  Beecher.  Mr.  Beecher  won't 
exchange  with  Dr.  Putnam  because  Dr.  Putnam  is  a  Unita- 
rian ;  and  Dr.  Putnam  won't  exchange  with  a  Swedenborgian. 
So  it  goes  around ;  and  that  is  what  you  call  religion  1 " 

Well,  how  is  it  in  medicine  ?  Not  only  will  not  homeo- 
pathic and  allopathic  doctors  consult  together,  but  if  a  man 
is  known  to  be  liberal,  many  a  medical  society  kicks  him  out. 


THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION.  24:1 

Physicians  are  as  bigoted  about  medicine  as  ministers  are 
about  theology. 

There  is,  in  the  realm  of  art,  what  is  called  "  low  art," 
and  what  is  called  "high  art ;"  and  there  are  intermediate 
stages;  and  each  is  distinct  from  every  other.  So  human 
nature  runs  in  grooves,  and  men  are  divided  into  classes,  and 
every  class  is  apt  to  have  more  regard  for  itself  than  for  any 
others ;  and  pride  and  selfishness,  whether  in  religion,  or 
philosophy,  or  science,  or  any  other  department,  is  part  and 
parcel  of  universal  human  nature.  So,  every  time  you  cet 
on  foot  any  wholesome  reformation  which  tends  to  run 
against  these  propensities,  they  are  aroused ;  and,  as  .an 
instance,  they  are  distinctively  brought  into  action  by  the 
temperance  movement. 

There  has  been  an  interference  with  men's  liberties.  It 
has  been  thought  that  even  if  a  man  conscientiously  believed 
it  to  be  right  to  use  wine  on  his  table  he  must  be  bombarded 
until  lie  receded  from  that  position  ;  and  so,  unmannerly  in- 
vectives and  epithets  have  been  heaped  upon  those  who  per- 
sisted in  exercising  what  they  considered  to  be  their  just 
freedom.  Now,  I  stand  for  the  liberty  of  such  men  ;  and  I 
say  to  them,  "If  a  man  says,  'You  shall  not  drink  wine,' 
that  is  the  very  ground  on  which  I  would  drink  it."  I  stand 
as  Calvin  stood  in  respect  to  the  Sabbath  day,  who,  after  ex- 
horting his  students  to  observe  that  day  because  of  its  moral 
benefits,  said  to  them,  "  But  if  any  man  says  to  you,  'You 
must  keep  the  Sabbath,'  then  break  it,  as  a  token  of  your 
Christian  liberty."  I  hold  the  individual  rights  of  a  man  to 
be  priceless ;  and  I  declare  that  no  reformation  of  any  kind  is 
justified  in  beginning  by  breaking  down  those  rights.  I  may 
persuade  a  man  as  much  as  I  please  ;  but  after  I  have 
reasoned  with  him,  and  brought  to  bear  upon  him  the 
strongest  arguments,  if  he  still,  in  the  exercise  of  his  own 
calm  judgment,  takes  a  course  different  from  that  which  I 
hold  to  ba  the  best,  I  have  no  right  to  damage  his  influence, 
to  tarnish  his  good  name,  or  to  make  society  uncomfortable 
for  him. 

There  are,  then,  different  views  as  to  the  extent  to  which 
it  is  proper  for  the  advocates  of  temperance  to  go  in  urging 


242  THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 

these  claims  upon  men  ;  so  that  some  who  work  for  the  cause 
only  to  a  certain  degree  are  considered  as  non-temperance 
men,  because  they  do  not  go  so  far  as  others  would  have 
them.  But  the  bigotry  of  one  side  among  those  who  are 
laboring  for  the  suppression  of  intemperance  againsb  another 
side  is  mischievous  to  the  last  degree.  I  believe  in  temper- 
ance, but  I  believe  in  personal  liberty  too.  I  believe  in 
working  to  reform  men  from  intemperance,  but  I  believe  in 
doing  it  by  persuasion  and  by  reasoning.  I  do  not  think  you 
will  gain  anything  by  bigotry,  or  sourness,  or  invective. 
Those  men  who  employ  these  means  undoubtedly  do  it  under 
the  influence  of  their  conscience.  So  did  Paul  act  in  accord- 
ance with  the  dictates  of  his  conscience  in  going  to  Damas- 
cus to  persecute  the  Christians.  Men,  since  the  world 
began,  have  been  led  by  their  consciences,  in  alliance  with 
selfishness  and  combativeness  and  destructiveness,  to  do 
things  that  were  wrong. 

Here  let  me  say  a  word  respecting  that  great  movement 
which  is  taking  place  in  the  West,  and  which  is  trying  to 
take  place  in  the  East — the  aggressive  movement  of  women 
against  intemperance.  I  need  not  say,  after  what  I  have 
already  said,  that  I  do  not  expect  that  this  wonderful  move- 
ment is  going  to  sweep  intemperance  from  Ohio,  or  any- 
where else  ;  and  yet  I  hail  it.  I  am  glad  of  it.  It  has  been 
a  most  extraordinary  development,  considered  merely  as  a 
matter  of  phenomenology.  A  great  deal  of  benefit  has 
come  from  it  in  some  regions  ;  but  I  never  supposed  that  it 
would  banish  this  gigantic  evil  from  the  earth.  It  has  not 
seemed  to  me  that  anything  permanent  could  be  effected  by  a 
paroxysm  of  prayer  and  faith.  I  do  not  think  you  can  get 
"as  many  answers  to  prayer  when  you  are  praying  at  liquor 
dealers  as  when  you  are  praying  to  God.  If  prayer  is  any- 
thing, it  ought  to  be  addressed  to  the  Supreme  Being  ;  and  I 
think  that,  in  this  case,  it  ought  to  be  offered,  according  to 
the  command  of  Christ,  in  your  closet.  You  may  sing  on 
the  sidewalk,  and  you  may  exhort  on  the  sidewalk,  but  I 
would  not  advise  women  to  pray  on  the  sidewalk  with  the 
idea  that  they  are  praying  to  God.  You  may  pray  at  the 
liquor  dealers  if  you  please  ;  but  it  should  be  understood  that 


THE   TEMPERANCE  QUESTION.  243 

vou  are  praying  at  them,  and  not  that  you  are  praying  to 
God. 

But  these  are  mere  superficial  elements.  The  rousing  of 
the  mothers  and  wives  and  sisters  in  our  land  to  the  con- 
sciousness that  it  is  intemperance  which  strikes  most  pain- 
fully upon  them,  and  that  they  have  something  to  do  with 
the  destroying  of  it — this  I  consider  to  be  beyond  all  valua- 
tion.  And  it  is  not  going  to  stop  with  temperance.  The 
day  is  passed  when  a  woman  will  think  that  her  face  must  be 
veiled.  The  day  is  passed  when  a  woman  will  be  taught  that 
her  only  business  is  to  rock  the  cradle,  and  not,  when  the 
cradle  has  been  rocked,  to  go  out  with  her  son,  and  be  his 
companion  and  helper  in  everything  he  does  which  is  lawful 
and  right.  The  day  of  the  estrangement  of  women  from  the 
works  of  Christianity  in  our  time  is  passed,  and  you  will 
never  see  again  any  great  movement  going  on  in  this  land  in 
which  women  will  not  more  and  more  be  participants.  You 
may  not  like  it;  but  God  does  not  ask  men  what  they  like. 
You  may  not  approve  of  it ;  but  your  children  will.  There 
will  come  a  time,  within  a  hundred  years,  and  a  great  deal 
sooner  than  that,  when  men  will  scarcely  believe  the  truth  in 
respect  to  our  present  doctrines  in  regard  to  a  woman's 
function  in  life — when  they  will  look  upon  it  as  to-day  you 
look  upon  the  veiled  wives  in  the  harem.  They  will  not 
believe  that  it  was  possible  for  the  sons  of  the  Pilgrims,  who 
were  so  enlightened  in  respect  to  the  liberty  of  men,  to  have 
been  in  such  obscurity  in  regard  to  the  power  and  liberty  of 
women.  Therefore  I  am  glad  to  see  this  great  outbreak, 
though  there  is  much  in  it  which  I  do  not  think  will  have 
any  particular  effect  on  the  temperance  cause,  since 
evident  to  me  that  it  will  have  a  powerful  effect  on  the  can 
of  woman.  I  hail  it ;  for  now,  if  a  woman  may  go  out,  a 
a  Presbyterian  minister  may  go  with  her,  and  sing  and  pray 
and  exhort  in  front  of  a  grog-shop  by  the  hour,  day  in  and 
day  out ;  if  she  is  ordained  by  him,  quo  ad  hoc  (this  is  an 
ecclesiastical  phrase,  which  I  do  not  interpret),  then  she  may 
do  other  things  also  ;  such  as  praying  in  a  conference-room 
and  exhorting  in  a  meeting,  if  she  has  anything  to  say. 
Was  there  ever  such  a  piece  of  Pharisaism  as  has  been  cxhib- 


244  THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 

ited  on  account  of  a  woman's  speaking  in  meeting  ?  They 
set  her  to  teaching  in  the  school,  but  when  she  presumes  to 
teach  in  the  conference  meeting,  they  quote  Paul  as  forbid- 
ding a  woman  to  speak  !  They  make  her  a  missionary,  and 
send  her,  under  a  Board  of  Direction,  to  teach  the  heathen ; 
but  she  must  not  speak  in  a  Presbyterian  -church  at  home, 
because  Paul  forbade  it !  They  give  her  the  amplest  educa- 
tion, they  give  her  the  ability  and  capacity  to  do  things 
which  men  can  do ;  and  then  they  stop  up  her  mouth  with  a 
text,  as  if  it  were  contrary  to  the  Spirit  of  God  for  her  to 
employ  her  talents. 

Now,  I  hold  that  a  woman  has  a  right  to  do  anything 
that  she  can  do  well,  and  that  it  is  proper  to  do  at  all.  I  do 
not  say  that  every  woman  is  bound  to  speak — every  man, 
thank  God,  is  not  bound  to  speak — but  when  by  her  birth- 
right she  is  capacitated  to  speak,  it  is  right  that  she  should 
speak.  I  hold  that  in  Jesus  Christ  there  is  neither  male  nor 
female ;  that  men  and  women  stand  alike ;  and  that  it  is 
right  for  a  woman  under  given  circumstances  to  do  what  it 
is  right  for  a  man  to  do  under  the  same  circumstances. 

Looking  upon  the  movement  which  is  taking  place  in 
regard  to  temperance,  as  I  do  with  great  interest,  while  I  do 
not  think  that  in  any  form  in  which  it  has  developed  itself  it 
is  going  to  have  much  influence,  I  can  see  that,  in  a  form 
which  has  not  been  contemplated,  it  is  going  to  have  a  great 
deal  of  influence  ;  and  I  trust  that  from  this  time  forth  the 
women  in  every  Christian  Church  will  feel  that  they  are  per- 
sonally responsible  for  the  progress  of  the  temperance  work  ; 
and  that  by  prayer,  at  home  and  in  meetings  by  themselves, 
and  by  forth-puttings  in  various  ways,  they  will  help  us  to 
roll  on  the  blessed  car  of  reformation. 

Give  us  this  woman-element.     We  do  not  want  women 

~lo  become  men ;  we  want  them  to  remain  women,  and  to 

furnish  that  love,  that  disinterestedness,  that  benevolence, 

that  zeal  and  enthusiasm,  which,  we  lack,  but  which  they 

never  lack. 

So  I  hope  we  shall  make  headway,  in  our  day  and  genera- 
tion, against  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks, 
and  all  those  influences  of  social  bias  and  fashion  whic  h  are 


THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION.  345 

leading  so  many  men  into  ways  which  at  first  are  simply  con- 
vivial, but  which  afterwards  become  ways  of  dissipation,  and 
of  final  degradation  and  utter  destruction. 

In  closing  these  remarks  on  this  general  subject,  let  me 
say  a  single  word  to  those  who  are  already  in  the  indulgence 
of  drinking  habits,  not  as  your  censor,  not  as  your  master  or 
lord,  but  as  your  friend,  as  your  brother,  as  your  pastor — if 
you  be  of  this  flock.  Let  me  put  it  to  every  man  in  this  pres- 
ence to-night :  Would  it  not  be  better  for  you,  for  your  health, 
for  your  peace  of  mind,  and  for  the  comfort  of  those  that 
are  around  about  you,  if  you  abstained  entirely  from  drinking 
habits  ?  If  you  take  comfort  in  drinking  you  ought  to  leave 
it  off,  because  you  are  in  danger ;  and  if  you  do  not  take 
comfort  in  it,  you  ought  to  give  it  up  on  the  ground  of  man- 
liness and  of  kindness  to  those  who  are  around  about  you. 
You  ought  to  do  it  on  the  general  ground  of  prudence.  And 
on  the  grounds  of  manliness  and  kindness  and  prudence,  as 
a  matter  of  duty,  may  I  not  exhort  you  to  take  a  step  in  ad- 
vance ? 

Will  not  my  years  now  justify  me  in  addressing  the  young 
as  a  father  ?  and  may  I  not  exhort  those  who  have  never  yet 
touched  the  intoxicating  cup  to  come  up  with  unpolluted  lips  ? 
May  I  not  exhort  you  to  turn  your  back  upon  vulgar  pleas- 
ure, and  live  in  manly  habits  of  virtue,  of  self-restraint,  and 
of  that  which  God  gives  to  every  man  by  which  to  keep  these 
temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost  pure  ?  There  are  no  joys  that 
come  from  convival  and  dissipating  habits  which  are  to  be 
compared  with  those  which  come  from  the  throb  of  absolute 
health. 

Seek  health.  Seek  it  by  the  way  of  virtue  and  manli- 
ness. Put  far  from  you  the  cup.  Do  not  allow  your  pleas- 
ures to  run  in  directions  which  separate  you  from  your 
kindred  and  companions.  Cling  to  your  household.  Love 
your  father  and  mother,  and  brothers  and  sisters.  Love 
your  wife,  if  you  stand  in  the  marital  connection.  Stand 
strong  at  home.  Bring  your  pleasures  there  ;  or,  take  your 
household  with  you  if  you  go  out  for  pleasure.  Stand 
together,  and  stand  by  one  another's  light  and  strength. 

May  God  keep  away  from  you  the  blight  in  yourselves , 


246  TH%  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 

and  as  you  grow  up  to  be  parents,  may  he,  in  his  infinite 
mercy,  deliver  you  from  the  anguish  of  seeing  those  whom 
you  have  borne  and  reared  through  years  of  anxiety  smitten 
down  and  swept  away  by  the  fiery  scourge. 

And  as  you  see  those  who  are  struggling  with  temptations 
around  about  you,  be  generous  toward  them ;  give  them  a 
helping  hand ;  be  full  of  sympathy  for  them ;  do  what  in 
you  lies  to  save  them  ;  bear  with  them  if  they  stumble  after 
reformation,  and  lift  them  up.  jgpvftrgivp  i^p  a,  n^,n.  As 
long  as  there  is  life  in  him,  help  him ;  even  if  your  helping 
him  does  not  do  him  any  good,  it  will  do  you  good. 

And  may  God,  at  last,  bring  us  all  into  his  kingdom. 
May  he  purify  our  hearts,  and  justify  our  lives,  so  that  at 
length  we  may  stand  in  the  blessedness  of  the  life  to  come, 
without  fear,  without  temptation,  and  without  sin. 


THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION.  247 

PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

WE  beseech  of  thee,  our  Father,  to  grant  us  that  inspiration  by 
which  ail  that  is  li ke  thee  iu  us  may  rise  iuto  power,  that  we  may  dis- 
cern thy  presence.  By  our  inward  sensibility,  by  all  those  affections 
in  us  which  rise  at  thy  call,  by  a  heart  that  is  itself  disposed  to  cry 
out,  Abba  Father,  by  trust,  by  love,  by  hope,  by  peace,  may  we  dis- 
cern thy  presence,  .uiay  we  not  seek  the  soul's  companionship 
according  to  the  thoughts  and  the  ways  of  the  body,  as  if  only  they 
were  near  us  whom  we  can  see,  and  as  if  the  best  part  of  our  life  and 
nature  could  be  discerned  by  the  senses.  Grant,  we  pray  thee,  that 
our  souls  may  learn  to  recognize  the  invisible  world,  and  the  helps 
which  belong  to  our  lower  life.  May  we  rise  into  the  confidence  of 
thine  existence,  and  into  full  trust  and  absorbing  love.  Forgive  those 
things  which  are  faulty  and  sinful  in  our  dispositions.  Have  compas- 
sion upon  those  things  which  come  from  our  infirmities,  from  our 
weakness  and  from  our  inexperience.  Whether  they  be  sinful  or 
not,  grant  that  deliverance  from  on  high  by  which  we  may  be  borne 
safely  through.  From  day  to  day  may  we  gain  in  strength,  in  knowl- 
edge, in  virtue,  in  patience,  in  fidelity,  in  all  that  makes  us  Christ-like. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  help  those  who  are  discouraged,  and  cause 
them,  though  they  go  slowly,  to  feel  that  they  are  in  the  right  way  so 
long  as  they  are  serving  thee.  Have  compassion  upon  those  who  are 
as  men  traveling  in  a  darkened  night,  and  whose  doubts  and  fears  are 
more  than  their  joys.  Have  compassion  upon  those  who  meet  with 
stormy  times ;  who  are  often  overwhelmed  and  carried  away,  though 
they  fain  would  pursue  the  right  way. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  be  near  all  the  children  of  night, 
and  all  that  are  captives.  Unbind  them,  and  open  their  prison  doors, 
and  bring  them  forth. 

May  those  who  have  consecrated  their  youth  to  thee,  and  who 
stand  in  primal  strength,  unperverted,  not  be  vain  and  proud, 
nor  glory  in  their  own  power,  nor  in  their  own  goodness.  May 
they  know  that  it  is  the  grace  of  God,  diffused  through  their 
parents,  and  through  their  households,  and  through  all  their  edu- 
cation and  circumstances,  that  has  upheld  and  is  upholding  them. 
And  we  beseech  of  thee  that  they  may  feel  themselves  to  be  account- 
able for  nobler  fruit  and  larger  exertion  than  those  who  combat 
with  evil  in  themselves,  and  exhaust  their  forces  in  restraining  their 
tendencies  toward  evil,  lest  they  be  utterly  overthrown.  We  pray 
that  thou  wilt  grant  to  all  those  who  have  had  the  true  ideal  of 
life  administered  to  them,  to  those  who  have  risen  to  the  Mount  of 
Vision,  to  those  who  have  discerned  the  great  world  beyond,  and 
felt  its  inspiration  and  help,  by  which  they  may  bring  hither,  by  a 
blessed  impartation  to  their  souls,  the  truths  of  that  upper  realm. 
Are  there  not  many  that  are  ordained  to  be  comforters  who  do  not 
exercise  their  gifts?  Are  there  not  many  that  are  sent  to  be  light- 
bearers  who  let  men  walk  in  darkness  because  they  will  not  let  their 
light  shine?  Are  there  not  those  who  sit  to  be  fed  who  should  feed 
others?  Are  there  not  many  that  are  forever  asking  and  seldom 
giving? 


248  THE  TEMPERANCE  QUESTION. 

We  pray,  O  Lord,  that  thou  wilt  disclose  the  duties  of  life  to  every 
one.  May  all  lay  aside  false  shame,  aiid  indolence,  and  self-seeking, 
and  whatever  hinders  them  from  disclosing  the  powers  that  are  in 
them. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  fill  this  church  with  men  and  women  who 
shall  be  workers  together  in  the  blessed  cause  of  God.  Spread  the 
truth  throughout  all  our  land.  Help  those  who  are  seeking  better 
ways  for  men.  May  our  whole  nation  be  reformed,  that  it  may  be 
held  back  from  violence,  from  avarice,  from  evil  passions,  from  inor- 
dinate affections.  We  pray  that  thou  wilt  harmonize  the  counsels 
of  this  great  people.  May  we  be  more  and  more  intense  in  our 
desires  for  universal  intelligence.  And  grant  that  liberty  may  not 
degenerate  into  licentiousness.  May  this  Christian  people,  raised 
up  and  protected  by  the  providence  of  God,  become  a  light  to  guide 
other  nations,  and  to  convince  them  of  their  need  of  knowledge,  in 
order  that  they  purge  away  the  blackness  of  ignorance,  and  all  imps 
of  superstition,  and  all  temptations  to  tyranny  by  reason  of  men's 
weakness. 

So,  in  the  strength  which  comes  from  virtue,  and  intelligence,  and 
piety,  may  thy  people  everywhere  stand  strong  in  that  liberty  where- 
with Christ  makes  them  free.  Have  compassion  upon  the  world. 
Hasten,  we  beseech  of  thee,  the  day  when  all  men  shall  know  thee 
from  th«  greatest  unto  the  least,  when  thy  kingdom  shall  come,  and 
when  thy  will  shall  be  done  in  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven. 

And  to  thy  name  shall  be  the  praise,  Father,  Sou,  and  Spirit, 
evermore.  Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

OTTR  'Father,  we  pray  that  thy  blessing  may  rest  upon  the  truth 
spoken  to-night.  Grant  that  it  may  do  good,  exciting  thought,  and 
inciting  men  to  considerateness  who  are  careless.  Grant,  we  pray 
thee,  that  those  who  are  in  peril  may  be  withdrawn  from  their 
danger.  Grant  that  those  who  are  safe  may  be  maintained  in  their 
safety.  We  pray  for  the  whole  community.  We  pray  that  the  power 
of  Christian  truth  may  elevate  it  on  every  side.  We  pray  that  labor 
iray  become  sweeter,  and  its  remunerations  surer.  We  pray  that 
contentment  may  follow  acquisition.  We  pray  that  men  may  learn 
bow  to  be  happy  without  becoming  frivolous.  We  pray  that  men 
pw>y  use  this  world  as  a  means  of  preparing  for  the  world  to  come. 
M«v  they  learn  to  use  all  the  the  things  which  God  has  created  with- 
out abusing  them.  And  bring  us  all,  by  and  by,  to  our  Father's 
Louse,  through  riches  of  grace  la  Christ  Jesus.  Amen. 


"  For  by  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith ;  and  that  not  of  your- 
*elves:  it  is  the  gift  of  God."— EPH.  U.,  8. 


The  salvation  of  men  is  the  result  of  the  divine  nature. 
It  is  the  effluence  and  the  effect  of  the  disposition  of  God. 
Whatever  governmental  theories  may  have  hitherto  been 
entertained,  whatever  philosophical  explanations  may  have 
been  made,  the  fact  will  become  more  and  more  apparent 
that  the  reason  of  men's  salvation,  in  the  end,  is  that  the 
tendency  of  the  divine  government — which  is  but  another 
word  for  the  effect  of  the  divine  disposition — is  to  communi- 
cate everlasting  life  to  men. 

No  exposition  of  Christianity  will  be  abiding  and  effective 
which  does  not  take  into  account  the  whole  of  man,  man- 
kind, and  all  the  circumstances  which  act  upon  men.  It  is 
easy  for  us  to  form  theories  in  the  study,  using  those  men 
about  us  who  are  the  best  descended,  the  best  educated,  and 
the  most  favorably  situated,  as  our  specimens ;  but  no  theory 
springing  from  Christianity  will  be  valid  and  permanent 
which  does  not  to  take  into  account  the  whole  race,  under 
all  their  circumstances,  and  under  all  the  influences  that 
have  acted,  and  are  acting,  and  will  continue,  according  to 
the  constitution  of  things,  to  act  upon  them. 

What  does  ideal  perfectness  require  a  man  to  be  ?  or,  in 
other  words,  what  does  the  law  of  God  require  of  mankind  ? 
— for  the  law  of  God  can  be  nothing  other  than  the  law  of 
ideal  perfectness.  There  is  a  law  spoken  of  in  the  Word  of 
God — the  ceremonial  law  of  the  Jews;  and,  for  the  most 

SUNDAY  MORNING,  May  24,  1874.    T.ESSON  :  Isaiah  lv.,  HYMNS  (Plymouth  Collec- 
tion) :  Nos.  130,  180,  660. 


252  GOD'S  GRACE. 

part,  that  is  the  meaning  of  the  term  as  employed  in  the 
epistles ;  because  the  apostles  who  wrote  were  writing  to  their 
countrymen,  and  were  seeking  to  enlarge  them  and  set  them 
free  from  the  old  Mosaic  economy.  Then  there  is  society 
law,  such  as  men  find  all  around  them.  But  divine  law — 
that  on  which  we  are  to  reason  in  determining  right  and 
wrong  respecting  life  and  the  great  events  of  the  future — 
that  law  cannot  be  regarded  as  synonymous  with  the  Mosaic 
law,  or  society  law,  or  any  other  law  than  that  of  ideal  per- 
fectness  in  every  part  of  man's  nature.  Such  a  law  as  this 
demands  perfect  conditions  of  body;  for  the  mind  can  no 
more  act  rightly  without  its  connections  in  this  world,  than 
a  steam-engine  can  go  to  sea  without  a  ship's  hull  under  it. 
We  all  know  that  the  mind  grows  sick  with  the  body,  and 
grows  well  with  the  body,  to  a  certain  degree ;  and  though 
we  may  not  be  able  to  mark  the  limitations  exactly,  yet  the 
general  truth  is  universally  admitted  that  the  body  and  mind 
in  our  present  circumstances  so  work  together  that  one  affects 
the  other,  that  one  is  dependent  upon  the  other,  and  that 
for  the  highest  mental  action  there  must  be  the  highest 
bodily  conditions. 

The  ideal  perfectness  which  God  requires  demands  the 
right  use,  under  proper  limitations,  provisions  and  govern- 
ment, of  all  the  appetites  and  all  the  passions  which  are  put 
into  man's  economy.  There  is  not  one  of  them  that  is  not 
in  its  central  nature  and  purpose  divine,  wise  and  necessary, 
as  a  constituent  element  of  humanity ;  and  it  is  the  right  use 
of  them,  limiting  them  simply  to  their  normal  functions  and 
proper  government,  that  is  demanded  by  the  ideal  law  of  God. 
That  law  also  requires  that  men  should  develop  their  right 
functions  in  right  lines,  and  in  right  associations  or  company. 
And  the  education  and  predominance  of  the  moral  senti- 
ments and  spiritual  elements  which  are  in  men  is  to  be 
secured.  The  control  of  the  passions,  the  development  of 
the  social  affections,  and  the  unfolding  of  the  moral  nature 
of  man — these  things  are  to  take  place  in  the  light  of  reason, 
of  the  imagination,  and  of  the  highest  forms  of  intelligence. 

Now,  consider  that  these  things  are  to  be  accomplished  in 
some  sense  against  nature.  Consider,  in  other  words,  that  it 


GOD'S  G&ACE.  353 

is  not  the  tendency  of  a  man's  physical  being  to  develop  itself 
toward  spirituality.  The  flesh  tends  toward  coarseness,  and 
not  toward  that  spirituality  which  is  the  result  of  will, 
effort,  and  continuous  influence.  All  this  various  develop- 
ment of  the  ideal  man  in  perfect  harmony  and  symmetry  is 
to  be  brought  about  within  itself.  What  that  perfect  bar- 
mon}i  and  symmetry  is  we  do  not  know.  It  differs  in  different 
men,  as  will  appear  more  clearly  in  the  sequel.  Every  man 
is  to  be  developed  by  that  which  is  within  him  into  a  per- 
sonal harmony;  and  what  that  personal  harmony  is,  is  to 
be  found  out  by  each  one  separately. 

It  also  is  to  be  continuous,  perpetual.  That  is  to  say,  we 
are  to  seek,  not  a  mood,  but  a  character  ;  not  a  flash  of  feel- 
ing, but  an  abiding  disposition ;  not  some  happy  hour  of 
inspiration  merely,  but  a  life.  Through  dark  and  through 
light,  through  calm  and  through  storm,  through  battle  and 
through  peace,  we  are  to  seek  abidingly  a  higher  form  of 
character  which  shall  put  all  that  is  in  us  into  harmonious 
relations  with  itself,  and  ourselves  into  harmonious  relations 
with  God  and  the  invisible  world. 

Such  is  the  law  of  God,  such  is  the  ideal  manhood  which 
we  are  to  aspire  to,  and  such  is  the  substantial  law  by  which 
men  are  judged,  and  are  to  be  judged. 

Now,  let  us  observe  the  facts  of  men's  creation,  and  of 
their  condition  in  this  world.  If  we  take  the  old  reasoning, 
and  say  that  men  were  created  holy,  that  they  fell  from 
their  first  estate,  and  that  since  the  race  has  fallen  it  is  to 
be  treated  as  a  race  that  has  fallen  by  its  own  fault  in  some 
ivay — if  we  take  that  reasoning  we  despatch  the  question 
\T3ry  briefly,  but  most  unsatisfactorily.  No  such  reasoning, 
however,  can  possibly  continue.  It  is  not  true  in  respect 
to  each  individual,  as  that  reasoning  would  lead  us  to  sup- 
pose, that  he  ever  fell  in  our  great  forefather,  Adam,  in 
any  such  sense  as  that.  The  facts  of  the  individual  expe- 
rience of  a  person,  or  of  the  race,  are  to  be  accounted  for 
on  the  grounds  of  divine  arrangement,  as  much  as  the  nature 
of  the  earth,  or  the  laws  of  light  and  gravity.  The  theory 
that  they  depend  upon  the  creative  care  of  God  is  absolute 
and  inevitable. 


254  GOD'S  GRACE. 

Men  are  born  into  the  world  empty.  There  is  nothing  of 
them  in  the  beginning.  There  are  germinant  tendencies  in 
them,  there  are  undeveloped  forces  in  them,  carrying  certain 
potential  qualities;  but  those  tendencies  and  qualities  are 
at  first  chaotic.  Helpless  man,  when  he  is  born,  is  like  a 
city  sketched  on  paper  but  not  built.  Men  come  into  the 
world  nothings,  though  they  come  with  the  capacity  of  being 
somethings.  The  human  being  is  an  apprentice  to  all  tilings 
that  are  manly — to  all  things  whose  nature  is  moral.  He 
comes  into  life  lower  than  an  apprentice.  He  learns  every- 
thing by  the  slowest  and  by  the  hardest.  The  eye  learns  to 
see.  It  was  adapted  to  learn  ;  but  it  has  to  learn.  The  ear 
learns,  the  tongue  learns,  the  hand  learns,  the  foot  learns, 
the  very  body  itself  learns,  everything. 

It  is  not  so  with  the  animal  creation  underneath  us.  They 
at  birth  know  all  that  they  are  ever  to  know,  for  the  most 
part.  Certainly,  as  you  go  down  lower  everything  is  created 
more  nearly  perfect.  No  long  period  is  required  for  the  non- 
intelligent  animals  to  learn  to  walk  or  to  gambol  and  enjoy 
themselves.  Their  apprenticeship  is  very  short.  And  when 
you  go  below  them  to  the  insects,  these  are  born  perfect. 

But  men  are  bom  at  nothing — at  zero  ;  and  they  have  to 
come  up,  learning  everything  which  pertains  to  their  body 
slowly,  by  experimental  steps,  by  tentative  efforts. 

When  you  rise  higher  than  the  body,  the  apprenticeship 
is  still  more  apparent,  and  men  are  obliged  to  learn  every- 
thing that  is  wise,  or  good,  or  gentle,  or  discreet,  or  excellent 
in  any  form,  by  a  still  longer  schooling.  This  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  divine  constitution.  It  is  not  a  mere 
accident  of  men.  It  might  as  well  be  said  that  men  are 
responsible  for  the  shape  of  their  head,  for  its  size,  or  for  the 
character  of  their  features,  as  to  say  that  they  are  responsible 
for  those  conditions  which  bring  them  into  life  at  zero,  and 
which  make  it  impossible  for  any  creature  that  ever  lives  on 
earth  to  reach  anything  excellent  except  through  certain 
stages  of  evolution.  The  most  complex  thing,  the  subtlest 
thing,  the  most  difficult  thing  to  be  conceived  of,  is  the  devel- 
opment of  a  truly  divine  character  in  man.  There  is  no  other 
problem  which  is  so  intricate  and  so  un reachable  as  the 


GOD'S  GRACE.  255 

harmonious  development  of  a  man's  faculties  to  an  ideal 
symmetry. 

When  you  consider  the  intricacy  of  a  construction  like 
Babbage's  calculating  machine,  it  tires  your  brain  and  you 
give  up  attempting  to  form  a  conception  of  it.  When  you 
consider  the  problems  which  are  involved  in  a  great  astro- 
nomical calculation,  they  are  so  many  and  so  intricate  that 
unless  one  has  rare  genius  and  long  practice  they  are  insol- 
uble to  him.  But  no  physical  problems  such  as  these  are 
comparable  to  the  difficulty  which  there  is  in  the  develop- 
ment of  absolute  power  and  co-operative  harmony  in  the 
ideal  perfect  man. 

Consider  the  rawness  of  men,  their  rudeness,  their  weak- 
ness in  moral  elements,  and  their  strength  in  basilar  forces. 
Consider  the  circumstances  under  which  men  come  into  the 
world,  and  under  which  they  have  to  play  their  part  in  the 
development  of  their  character  and  in  the  fulfillment  of  the 
behests  of  God's  ideal  law,  or  law  of  ideal  perfection.  What 
is  the  preparation  with  which  a  man  starts  in  life  ?  Not  only 
does  he  inherit  from  his  parents,  from  his  ancestors,  all  con- 
ceivable combinations  of  normal  qualities,  in  all  degrees  of 
proportion,  but  he  inherits  these  qualities  in  an  endless,  vary- 
ing series ;  so  that  the  first  child  that  is  born  into  a  family 
is  not  the  type  of  the  second.  In  other  words,  the  alphabet 
which  spells  out  each  man  is  found  in  father  and  mother,  in 
grandfather  and  grandmother ;  and  the  lines  which  come 
doAvn  to  the  formation  of  each  individual  one,  select,  from 
long  reaches  backward,  qualities  in  different  degrees,  in  differ- 
ent proportions,  and  with  different  susceptibilities.  Every 
man,  differently,  for  himself,  inherits,  in  varying  degrees, 
that  which  comes  down  to  him  through  his  ancestors.  So 
that  one  man  has  a  large  intellect,  with  small  feeling ;  and 
another  has  a  small  intellect  with  large  feeling.  One  man 
has  radiancy  of  imagination  and  no  practicalness,  while 
another  man  is  stone  blind  in  imagination  und  has  excessive 
practicalness.  In  the  same  household  one  sings  as  a  poet, 
and  all  the  rest  are  mute ;  one  is  an  eminent  mathematician, 
and  none  of  the  others  has  any  gifts  in  that  direction.  In  the 
same  brood  of  children,  representing  the  same  father  and 


256  GOD'S  GRACE. 

mother,  by  various  combinations  of  qualities,  in  accordance 
with  God's  law  of  heredity,  there  is  infinite  variation.  So 
every  man  stands  for  himself. 

In  mankind  the  individual  is  a  thousand  times  more  char- 
acteristic than  anywhere  else  in  creation.  Although  the  genus 
among  men  is  well  marked,  the  species  under  that  genus  are 
so  distinct  one  from  another  that  they  would  constitute,  in 
any  other  department  of  knowledge,  distinct  genera. 

It  is  true,  also,  that  we  inherit,  at  the  start,  morbid  condi- 
tions. Some  men  are  born  with  perfect  health.  Their  brain 
is  healthy.  All  the  nerves  that  run  out  from  it  are  healthy. 
Their  heart  is  healthy.  Their  lungs  are  healthy.  Their 
stomach  is  healthy.  Their  bone-system  is  good,  and  their 
muscular  system  is  good.  Each  part  is  in  proportion  to 
every  other,  and  all  the  parts  work  harmoniously.  But  right 
by  the  side  of  such  a  one,  and  born  of  the  same  father  and 
mother,  is  one  whose  head  is  in  great  disproportion  to  all 
the  rest  of  his  body.  Another  is  born  with  a  good  head 
and  a  good  heart,  but  poor  lungs.  Still  another  is  born  with 
poor  digestion. 

Not  only  so,  but  some  men  are  born  with  morbid  appe- 
tites and  with  tendencies  toward  lust.  They  inherit  evil 
propensities  from  their  parents  for  which  they  are  no  more 
responsible  than  they  would  be  for  a  club-foot,  or  for  a 
deformed  arm.  In  some  the  appetite  for  drink  is  heredi- 
tary. Insanity  is  born  in  some.  There  is  every  conceivable 
variety  of  conditions  in  which  men  are  born.  And  they  who 
study  men  most  closely,  those  who  are  the  best  physiologists, 
are  the  most  assured  of  the  fact  that  we  are  born  with 
infinitely  different  and  varying  proportions,  not  only  of  phys- 
ical organs,  but  of  moral  qualities. 

And  yet,  no  man  has  a  bill  of  items  when  he  is  born.  No 
invoice  comes  with  a  man  when  he  enters  this  world,  saying, 
"  Brain  so  much  ;  heart  so  much,"  and  so  on.  The  father 
does  not  know  what  is  in  the  child ;  the  mother  does  not 
know  it ;  the  child  itself  does  not  know  it ;  nobody  knows  it 
until  the  person  finds  it  out  himself,  when  he  is  shoved  into 
life,  and  the  school-master  runs  against  it,  and  it  is  restrained ; 
or  until  the  minister  discovers  it ;  or  until  the  man,  stum- 


GOD'S  GRACE.  257 

bling  this  way  or  that  way,  driven  by  forces  which  he  has  not 
calculated,  comes  to  a  knowledge  of  it. 

There  are  generic  public  laws  ;  and  there  are  also  special 
laws  which  apply  to  individual  men,  and  which  are  required 
by  each  one  for  himself ;  but  where  is  there,  in  any  revela- 
tion, or  in  any  book  of  accumulated  human  experience, 
anything  that  tells  a  man  what  he  is  when  he  starts  in  this 
world  blindly  on  the  race  of  the  ideal  perfection  of  man- 
hood ? 

I  am  not  exaggerating  this ;  it  is  worse  than  I  can  possi- 
bly draw  it ;  but  the  looking  in  the  face  the  facts  of  the 
condition  in  which  men  actually  exist  i3  indispensable  to  the 
right  understanding  of  divine  grace. 

Consider,  also,  the  surroundings  into  which  men  are  born. 
How  blessed  are  they  who  are  half-way  in  heaven  when 
they  sit  in  their  mother's  lap !  How  many  there  are  who 
have  no  such  benign  and  sacred  place  !  How  many  there  are 
whose  parents  are  their  perverters !  How  many  there  are 
who  are  made  selfish  by  their  instruction,  as  well  as  by  the 
hereditary  tendencies  which  are  in  themselves  !  How  many 
are  rendered  base,  frivolous,  coarse,  animal,  and  sensuous, 
by  parents  who  are  worse  than  no  teachers,  perverting  their 
children  ! 

Here  are  men  who  are  born  into  life  with  nothing  but 
capacities.  They  are  ignorant  as  to  what  these  capacities  are  ; 
and  they  exist  in  different  men  in  such  endlessly  different 
proportions  that  no  one  man  is  a  model  for  another.  Then, 
men  are  frequently  tainted  with  morbid  conditions  which  are 
hereditary.  And  with  these  disabilities  they  are  born  into 
households  where  very  little  light  or  help  is  given  to  them. 
And  not  once  nor  twice,  but  many  times,  and  in  varying 
degrees,  these  facts  characterize  the  condition  of  the  human 
family. 

In  the  very  highest  points  of  Christian  culture  and  attain- 
ment things  have  been  gradually  growing  better;  but  in 
looking  over  the  past,  consider  as  you  go  back,  and  as  the 
light  grows  dimmer  and  dimmer,  what  must  be  the  condition, 
not  of  the  comparatively  few  favored  families,  not  of  here 
and  there  a  small  circle  who  have  been  blessed  in  overmeas* 


258  GOD'S  GRACE. 

ure,  but  of  all  mankind,  if  the  law  of  perfectness  is  enforced. 
What  kind  of  a  Christianity  is  that  which  takes  no  account 
of  mankind  ?  If  there  is  any  truth  in  Christianity,  it  must 
be  a  truth  that  covers  the  condition  of  the  human  family ;  it 
must  be  a  truth  that  is  able  to  solve  all  physical  and  social 
and  moral  phenomena;  it  must  be  a  truth  that  shall  meet, 
fjr  instance,  all  physiological  facts  squarely  in  the  face. 
There  are  men  who  will  bow  down  with  reverence  before 
a  text,  but  who  will  jump  a  fact.  There  are  men  who  are 
profoundly  reverential  toward  the  revelation  of  God  in  the 
Bible,  but  who  are  most  fractious  and  most  presumptuous  in 
treading  under  foot  God's  other  revelation — the  revelation  of 
nature,  and  of  actual  human  life.  And  when  I  look  out  on 
the  condition  of  the  race ;  when  I  see  how  they  are  born, 
how  they  are  made  up,  how  little  they  know  about  helping 
themselves,  how  little  anybody  knows  about  helping  them, 
how  ignorant  they  are,  and  how  helpless  they  are ;  when  I 
look  at  life  as  it  undeniably  is,  I  say  that  the  theories  which 
have  accounted  for  these  things  are  insufficient.  We  must 
have  other  ones ;  and  other  ones  are  dawning. 

Consider  what  it  is,  in  the  best  conditions,  to  come  into 
life  unformed  and  unbuilt,  and  to  go  on  all  the  way  through 
one's  career  with  a  law  continually  over  one's  head  demanding 
perfectness — perfectness  of  body,  with  all  its  unknown  con- 
ditions ;  perfectness  of  the  basilar  disposition,  with  all  its 
fiery  passions  and  appetites,  untamed  and  and  untamable  ; 
perfectness  everywhere,  always,  and  under  all  circumstances. 

To  put  a  child  that  has  never  seen  a  horse,  on  some 
Western  prairie,  or  on  the  Southern  pampas,  behind  a  team 
of  wild  horses  first  harnessed,  and  to  put  the  lines  in  his 
hands,  and  say  to  this  little  five-year-old,  "  Drive  them,  or  be 
damned  !" — how  cruel  it  would  be  !  And  yet,  how  have  men 
harnessed  human  life,  and  taken  creatures  born  of  the  fieriest 
passions,  of  the  intensest  natures,  about  which  they  know  so 
little  ;  how  have  they  taken  such  beings  that  are  ignorant  of 
themselves,  and  put  them  behind  themselves,  and  said,  "  Be 
perfect,  or  be  damned"  ! 

Suppose  you  were  to  take  a  grown  man,  who  knew  the 
ship-building  trade,  and  send  him  on  a  raft  to  sea,  saying, 


GOD'S  GRACE  259 

"Build  your  ship  while  you  are  making  the  voyage"! 
What  sort  of  a  voyage  would  a  man  make  on  a  raft  which  he 
was  compelled  to  convert  into  a  ship  while  making  his  trip 
on  the  ocean  ?  And  yet,  is  it  not  so  with  you  and  me  ? 
Are  we  not  very  much  equipped  with  lumber,  but  not  at  all 
with  a  good  hull?  Are  we  not  to  develop  ourselves,  and 
make  our  character,  while  all  the  time  there  is  above  our 
heads — yours,  and  mine,  and  everybody's  —  the  imperious 
command,  "  Be  thou  perfect"? 

Thanks  be  to  God  that  there  is  such  a  requirement. 
Thanks  be  to  God  that  so  high  a  standard  is  held  up  before 
us.  When  I  see  how  men  come  into  life,  and  how  they 
would  destroy  and  obliterate  all  traces  of  divinity  in  them,  I 
am  glad  that  there  is  a  law  in  the  heavens  which  quietly  says 
to  them,  "  Be  thou  perfect,  as  I  am  perfect." 

Consider  what  forces  society  generates.  Consider  what 
massive  institutions  men  find  already  in  society,  which  they 
cannot  go  around,  which  they  cannot  dig  under,  which  they 
cannot  pass  through,  and  which  throw  lights  and  shadows 
upon  them,  and  influence  them  for  good  or  for  evil,  as  the 
case  may  be.  Consider  what  currents  there  are,  which  are 
like  gulf-streams,  with  channels  already  cut,  that  are  irre- 
sistible to  the  strongest  men.  Consider  how  impossible  it  is 
for  a  man  to  throw  himself  out  from  under  the  influence 
of  those  who  are  around  him.  Consider  the  conflicts  of 
society.  Consider  its  rivalries,  and  envies,  and  jealousies, 
and  deceits,  and  cruelties,  and  oppressions.  Consider  the 
wrongs  that  are  perpetrated  everywhere.  And  then  consider 
that  a  man  is  put  into  society  where  these  great  forces  are  at 
work,  without  any  sociological  knowledge,  without  any  chart, 
with  only  functional  and  educational  equipment. 

"When  I  consider  what  the  conditions  are  under  which 
human  life  is  to  develop  itself ;  when  I  look  simply  at  the 
facts  of  man's  actual  existence ;  when  I  think  of  the  influ- 
ences which  are  brought  to  bear  upon  the  formation  of  men's 
characters,  I  not  only  do  not  marvel  that  civilization  has 
progressed  so  little,  but  I  marvel  that  it  has  progressed  at 
all ;  and  on  the  theory  that  there  are  no  forces  operating 
upon  mankind  except  the  forces  of  nature,  I  cannot  under" 


260  GOD'S  GRACE. 

stand  how  there  could  have  been  any  such  progress.  The 
strongest  argument  to  me  of  the  divine  government  is  the 
upward  tendency,  on  the  whole,  of  human  nature.  When  I 
see  what  it  is  made  up  of,  what  its  pull-backs  are,  and 
how  few  attractions  and  soliciting  influences  there  are  to  lift 
men  higher  and  higher ;  when  I  see  how  low  its  condition  is, 
how  void  it  is  of  holiness,  how  weak  it  is  in  its  inspiration ; 
when  I  see  how  little  there  is  in  it  that  looks  toward  right 
education  and  right  development ;  and  when  I  look  at  the 
destiny  of  the  human  family  in  the  light  of  these  things,  it 
seems  to  me  it  is  enough  to  drive  to  distraction  one  who  has 
no  other  ideas  than,  those  which  are  gathered  from  men 
themselves. 

Now,  on  the  other  hand,  consider  what  the  effect  must 
be  if  men  are  to  be  judged  rigorously  by  the  law  of  ideal 
perfectness.  Suppose  there  is,  at  the  end  of  life,  and  above 
life,  acting  down  silently  through  the  spheres,  a  gover- 
nor, who  holds  before  himself,  evermore,  the  conception  of 
perfectness  of  character  in  man,  and  administers  under  that 
law,  rigorously  demanding  perfection,  being  content  with 
nothing  less  than  commercial  exactitude,  and  saying,  "  Pay 
every  penny,  or  I  will  take  thee  by  the  throat,  and  throw 
thee  into  prison." 

Consider  where  men  come  from  ;  consider  how  they 
come  ;  consider  how  rude  they  are  ;  consider  how  weak  they 
are  in  that  which  is  good,  and  how  strong  they  are  in  that 
which  is  bad ;  consider  what  their  circumstances  are,  and 
what  their  surroundings  are  ;  then  consider  what  it  would  be 
to  administer  an  ideal  law  of  perfectness  over  them.  I  say 
that  if  God  himself  were  to  impose  such  a  law  upon  the  race 
in  their  present  condition,  it  would  be  an  act  of  tyranny  so 
transcendent  that  the  human  mind  is  not  able  to  conceive  of 
it.  All  the  unreasonableness  that  we  have  ever  thought  of, 
all  the  injustice  that  we  have  ever  dreamed  of,  all  the  infer- 
nal cruelty  that  Dante  in  his  gloomiest  mood  of  imagination 
ever  conceived  of,  could  not  equal  nor  approach  the  immen- 
sity, the  infinity,  or  the  awfulness,  of  the  conception  of  a 
divine  government  of  Perfectness  over  such  beings  as  men 
are,  in  the  creative  conditions  of  mankind.  The  more  you 


GOD'S  GRACE.  261 

think  of  a  law  of  absolute  perfectness  being  held  over  this 
race,  spawned  on  the  earth,  and  apparently  neglected,  almost 
as  the  shad's  eggs  are  in  the  river — the  more  you  think  of 
such  a  law  being  held  over  such  a  race,  by  one  who  says, 
"The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die;"  the  more  you  bring 
your  moral  sentiments  to  bear  upon  it,  the  more  revolting  it 
becomes  to  you.  The  more  your  moral  sentiments  are  edu- 
cated in  the  school  of  Christ,  the  more  sensitive  you  are  to 
piety  and  holiness,  the  more  you  feel  the  importance  of 
moral  goodness — the  more  is  there  raised  up  in  your  bosom 
a  court  of  justice  that  condemns  such  a  theory,  the  effect  of 
which  is  to  crush  out  the  hope  of  the  universe. 

Upon  this  state  of  facts,  what  is  indispensable  to  an 
equitable  administration  ?  It  is  such  a  compassionate  and 
considerate  Head  as  shall  take  into  account  what  man  is,  what 
is  the  way  along  which  he  is  to  travel,  what  are  all  the  dif- 
ficulties which  he  will  encounter,  and  how  impossible  it  is  for 
him  to  obey  a  perfect  law,  or  to  reach  the  ideal  perfectness  of 
manhood.  In  other  words,  it  is  indispensable  that  we  should 
believe  according  to  the  representation  which  is  made  in  the 
4th  chapter  of  Hebrews  : 

"  The  word  of  God  is  quick,  and  powerful,  and  sharper  than  any 
two-edged  sword,  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and 
spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow,  and  is  a  discerner  of  the 
thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart.  Neither  is  there  any  creature  that 
is  not  manifest  in  his  sight ;  but  all  things  are  naked  and  opened  unto 
the  eyes  of  him  with  whom  we  have  to  do." 

What  an  awful  knowledge  !  and  what  an  awful  field ! 
But  what  is  the  inference  ? 

"  Seeing  then  that  we  have  a  great  high-priest,  that  is  passed  into 
the  heavens,  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  let  us  hold  fast  our  profession. 
For  we  have  not  a  high-priest  which  cannot  be  touched  with  the 
feeling  of  our  infirmities;  but  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we 
are,  yet  without  sin.  Let  us  therefore  come  boldly  unto  the  throne 
of  grace,  that  we  may  obtain  mercy,  and  find  grace  to  help  in  time 
of  need." 

That  is  the  New  Testament  presentation  of  God.  It 
represents  him  as  standing  over  against  the  limitations,  and 
enfeeblements,  and  wants,  and  necessities  of  the  human  race. 

Man  being  what  he  is,  if  there  is  a  revelation  of  a  stern, 
exact  God  over  against  the  condition  of  things  which  exists 


262  GOD'S  GRACE. 

in  the  world,  which  he  himself  has  permitted,  which  has 
heen  going  on  from,  generation  to  generation  by  more  than 
permission,  oy  direct  fiat — if  there  is  a  revelation  of  such  a 
God,  then  we  are  all  ruined.  There  is  no  light,  no  hope 
for  us,  and  there  can  be  none,  under  such  a  presentation  of 
God.  But  the  Bible  does  not  present  any  such  view  of  God. 
Says  God,  in  the  Old  Testament : 

"My  thoughts  are  not  as  your  thoughts,  neither  are  your  ways 
my  ways.  For,  as  the  heavens  are  higher  than  the  earth,  so  are  my 
ways  higher  than  your  ways,  and  my  thoughts  than  your  thoughts.'' 

Christ,  in  the  New  Testament,  says, 

"If  ye,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  chil- 
dren, how  much  more  shall  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  give 
good  things  to  them  that  ask  him  ?  " 

In  another  place  he  spoke  a  parable  to  this  end  : 

"That  men  ought  always  to  pray,  and  not  to  faint;  saying, 
There  was  in  a  city  a  judge,  which  feared  not  God,  neither  regarded 
man ;  and  there  was  a  widow  in  that  city  ;  and  she  came  unto  him, 
saying,  Avenge  me  of  mine  adversary.  And  he  would  not  for  a 
while ;  but  afterward  he  said  within  himself,  Though  I  fear  not  God, 
nor  regard  man ;  yet  because  this  widow  troubleth  me  I  will  avenge 
her,  lest  by  her  continual  coming  she  weary  me.  And  the  Lord  said, 
Hear  what  the  unjust  judge  saith.  And  shall  not  God  avenge  his 
own  elect,  which  cry  day  and  night  unto  him?" 

The  unjust  judge  was  at  last  persuaded  to  do  justice 
by  the  importunate  widow ;  and  shall  a  man,  and  one  of 
the  worst  of  men,  have  a  point  in  his  nature  where  he 
can  be  made  to  do  good,  and  shall  not  God  who  is  infin- 
itely just,  equitable,  loving  and  merciful,  avenge  his  elect 
ones  ? 

The  presentation  of  God  in  the  Bible  is  such  as  makes 
him  to  be  precisely  adapted  to  the  condition  which  I  have 
represented  man  to  be  in.  Man  is  weak  and  sinful  and  neces- 
sitous ;  and  God  is  represented  as  a  Being  who  sits  in  heaven, 
adapting  his  administration  to  the  human  condition,  because 
he  is  infinite  in  patience,  all  the  time  requiring  perfectness, 
but  continually  bearing  with  men  on  their  way  up  to  per- 
fection. 

A  man  who  is  fit  to  teach  art  is  a  man  who  is  himself  sen- 
sitive to  art,  and  who  has  patience  with  rude  hands  and 
clumsy  drawing.  His  business,  as  a  schoolmaster,  is  to  wait 


QO&S  GRACE.  263 

for  those  who  do  not  know  how  to  do  fine  things  finely, 
brooding  over  them,  and  helping  them.  And  if  it  is  that  to 
be  a  schoolmaster,  what  is  it  to  be  a  parent,  but  to  take  rude, 
unlicked  cubs  in  the  shape  of  children,  and  bring  them  up 
out  of  vices,  through  all  manner  of  rudenesses  and  crude- 
nesses,  by  patience,  by  forbearance,  by  suffering,  and  by 
love,  waiting  till  they  become  something  by  training  ?  And 
how  do  we  learn  to  bear  with  nascent  beings,  giving  our 
thoughts  for  theirs,  and  our  feelings  for  theirs,  but  by  acting 
under  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ? 

It  is  said  that  some  birds  pluck  feathers  from  their  breasts 
to  make  nests  for  their  young.  Some  fathers  and  mothers, 
as  it  were,  pluck  feathers  from  inside  of  their  breasts  to 
soften  the  beds  of  their  children.  They  bring  them  up  little 
by  little,  from  childhood  to  manhood  and  womanhood, 
making  sacrifices  for  them  all  the  while. 

Now,  when  we  are  taught  to  say,  •'  Our  Father,"  to  God, 
do  we  mean  any  less  than  when  we  speak  of  an  earthly 
father  ?  Shall  a  father  on  earth  be  described  as  venerable 
and  lovely,  and  shall  the  Father  in  heaven  be  depicted  as  a 
Nero  ?  Shall  motherhood  on  earth  be  employed  to  represent 
all  that  is  beatific  and  gentle  and  beautiful,  and  shall  we 
adopt  a  theology  that  points  to  the  omnipotent  God  as  one 
that  is  harsh,  cruel  and  repugnant,  turning  the  universe  like 
a  vast  mill-wheel  that,  as  it  revolves,  crushes  all  that  comes 
in  its  way  ? 

God  is  a  God  of  love.  Nature  shows  it,  we  are  told ;  and 
tha  best  part  of  nature  is  human  life,  unfolded  not  onlj 
under  the  laws  of  matter,  but  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  i$ 
from  laws  organized  into  humanity,  through  intelligence, 
that  we  are  to  derive  our  conceptions  of  divinity.  And  1 
fini  In  the  Bible  that — while  there  are  terrible  denunciations 
for  voluntary  transgressions — when  mankind  are  spoken  of 
comprehensively  as  existing  in  weakness,  and  as  stumbling 
through  the  world,  it  is  the  mercy  of  God,  it  is  the  gentle- 
ness of  God,  that  are  held  up  to  view.  God  so  loved  the  world 
that  he  gave  his  Sou  to  die  for  it;  and  there  was  opened 
through  Jesus  Christ  a  way  into  the  bosom  of  God.  The 
patient  God  ;  the  just  God ;  the  waiting  God ;  the  long-suf- 


264  GOD'S  GRACE. 

fering  God ;  the  God  that  will  not  suffer  men  to  degenerate 
into  animalism  ;  the  God  that  is  not  willing  that  mankind 
should  go  down  to  brutalism  and  to  matter  again,  but  that 
ever  quickens  them,  and  vitalizes  them,  and  raises  creation 
up  to  its  higher  forms;  the  God  that  will  not  clear  the 
guilty,  and  that  means  to  round  out  the  world  to  beatific 
states ;  the  God  that  is  full  of  love,  and  gentleness,  and 
sweetness,  and  forbearance,  and  that  is  competent  to  brocd 
the  race  till  they  shall  come  out  into  their  true  estate  as  his 
sons — that  is  the  God  who  is  represented  in  the  Bible. 

Now  we  come  to  our  text.  Some  ministers  take  their 
text,  and  forsake  it,  and  never  see  it  again ;  but  this  time  I 
put  my  text  at  the  other  end,  and  preach  toward  it. 

"By  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith;  and  that  not  of  your- 
selves :  it  is  the  gift  of  God." 

What  is  grace?  It  is  that  divine  compassion  which  is 
infinitely  higher  than  the  sweetest  affection  that  ever  bloomed 
in  mortal  soul.  That  great  kindness,  that  wonderful  gener- 
osity, that  unending  mercy,  that  goodness,  which  is  eternal 
and  infinite  in  the  soul  of  God — that  is  grace.  Grace  means 
divine  disposition,  divine  beneficence.  It  is  no  trafficking 
quality.  It  is  not  a  quid  quo  pro.  What  is  it  that  the  daisy 
gives  the  sun  as  a  price  for  being  allowed  to  blossom  ?  What 
is  it  that  now  purples  the  orchard,  and  perfumes  the  field  ? 
Is  there  a  bargaining  transaction  between  the  sun  and  the 
blossoms  by  which  they  are  permitted  to  have  light  and 
heat  ?  No.  They  are  what  they  are  by  reason  of  the  sun's 
free  bounty.  Bring  the  sweetest  and  most  brilliant  flower, 
rich  with  fragrance,  and  its  testimony  will  be  that  it  is  what 
it  is  by  the  brooding  influence  of  the  sun,  by  which  it  in 
ieveloped  and  perfected.  And  it  is  by  the  grace  of  God  that 
ire  are  enabled  to  be  anything  good.  It  is  by  his  nature  and 
disposition.  It  is  by  what  he  is  inherently,  and  not  by  what 
Hie  is  hired  to  be,  or  coaxed  to  be.  It  is  not  by  any  fixed  ar- 
rangement. It  is  by  what  he  was  from  eternity.  It  is  by 
his  patience  and  forbearance  and  long-suffering.  He  does 
not  reign  for  the  sake  of  pushing  men  down.  Neither  does 
he  reign  in  such  a  way  as  to  let  them  go  down  uncared  for. 


GOD'S  OR  ACE.  265 

His  is  not  a  weak  love  that  will  allow  men  to  ruin  them- 
selves ;  it  is  a  love  which  is  determined  to  prevent  their 
ruining  themselves.  Such  is  God's  grace. 

"  By  grace  ye  are  saved  through  faith ;  and  that  not  of  yourselves." 

No,  no  !  not  of  yourselves. 

If  by  depravity  you  mean  that  the  whole  human  race  are 
voluntarily  as  low  as  they  are,  I  do  not  believe  in  it ;  but  if 
by  depravity  you  mean  merely  this,  that  the  whole  human 
race,  by  the  very  genius  of  their  creation,  by  all  their  sur- 
rounding circumstances,  fall  short,  every  one  of  them,  and 
all  the  time,  of  the  ideal  of  perfectness,  then  there  is  no 
other  truth  more  eminent  or  more  melancholy.  Nothing 
is  more  certain  than  man's  low  estate,  than  the  degraded 
condition  of  mankind  in  the  flesh  ;  and  it  is  by  the  work  that 
is  being  carried  on  under  the  divine  influence  to  lift  men  up 
out  of  their  animalhood  into  the  spiritual  realm — it  is  by  this 
that  we  becom3  men  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  doth  not  yet  appear 
what  we  shall  be.  We  know  that  we  are  going  toward  the 
stature  of  the  sons  of  God,  but  what  that  stature  is,  what  its 
lineaments  are,  we  do  not  know.  We  are  unable  to  under- 
stand what  our  disposition  and  traits  will  be  when  we  arrive 
at  the  state  of  perfectness.  We  have  no  conception  of  what 
that  condition  will  be  when  all  those  qualities  which  we  are 
unfolding  here  shall  be  not  only  perfect,  but  united  in  a  true 
spiritua1  manhood. 

I  remember  very  well  when  this  organ  was  built.  We 
gave  up  the  lecture-room  to  it.  The  materials  of  which  it 
was  constructed  were  scattered  about  in  that  room.  In  one 
corner  was  one  stop,  and  in  another  corner  was  another  stop  ; 
in  one  corner  was  one  huge  pipe,  and  in  another  corner  was 
another  huge  pipe.  These  things  lay  in  great  confusion  up 
and  down  through  the  room,  in  the  midst  of  all  manner  of 
dust  and  litter.  And  if  you  had  taken  one  who  had  never 
seen  an  organ,  and  shown  him  the  various  parts  of  this  one, 
lying  inchoate  through  the  whole  adjoining  room,  how  little 
conception  would  he  have  formed  of  the  instrument  as  it  now 
stands,  brought  to  order  and  regularity,  tuned,  and  under  a 
master  hand  !  Now,  we  are  dispersed.  We  are  full  of  crook- 
edness. We  are  stops  and  pipes  not  yet  brought  to  order  an<? 


266  GOD'S  GRACE. 

regularity,  and  not  yet  tuned ;  but  we  are  being  brought  to 
order  and  regularity,  and  are  being  tuned. 

Upon  such  a  state  of  facts  comes  the  declaration  of  Scrip- 
ture,  "We  are  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what 
we  shall  be."  What  it  is  to  be  a  son  of  God  when  one  is  put 
together  and  perfectly  tuned,  and  when  all  is  cleansed  away 
that  is  useless  or  that  hinders,  does  not  yet  appear.  Tho 
time-element  will  be  left  behind,  the  body  will  be  dropped, 
but  the  seed  will  be  saved.  The  germ  in  the  seed  will  go  on 
and  live,  while  the  auxiliary  parts  will  fall  off.  All  of  earth 
that  belongs  to  us  will  sleep  in  the  grave ;  but  all  that  in  us 
which  is  susceptible  of  immortality  will  rise  above  the  grave 
and  continue  forever.  What  that  will  be  we  cannot  tell ;  but 
that  it  will  be  unspeakably  glorious  we  know. 

This  view  of  God  which  I  give  you  does  not  relax  the 
conception  of  man's  want  and  weakness  and  sin,  but  it  gives 
great  force  to  the  declaration  that  without  divine  help  we  are 
all  lost.  There  would  be  more  chance  for  a  child  whose 
mother  died  at  its  birth,  even  if  there  were  no  nurses  and  no 
friends  to  care  for  it,  to  grow  to  manhood's  estate,  than  there 
is  for  men  as  they  are  in  this  world,  if  left  to  themselves,  to 
reach  immortal  life.  There  would  not  be  a  child  that  would 
live  on  the  globe ;  and  there  would  not  be  a  man  whose  soul 
would  be  saved.  If  there  were  no  divine  care  to  help  such 
weakness,  such  want,  such  rudeness,  such  rawness,  such 
unfulfilled  conditions,  such  undeveloped  faculties,  as  those  • 
which  belong  to  man  in  this  lower  sphere,  he  would  perish 
utterly.  If  there  were  no  divine  grace  nor  inspiration,  if 
there  were  not  a  thousand  influences  of  God  shed  down  upon 
men,  they  would  be  lost  every  one. 

Do  you  say  that  this  looking  at  facts  instead  of  taking 
texts  out  of  the  Bible  is  turning  to  one's  own  reason,  and 
that  it  is  not  right  for  men  to  trust  their  reason  ?  Well,  I 
hope  that  those  men  who  make  this  criticism  mean  something 
that  is  wise,  for  what  they  say  is  very  foolish.  Their  words 
are  foolish  :  I  hope  their  thought  is  better  than  their  words. 
Do  you  suppose  that  God  gave  us  reason  that  we  might  tuck 
our  head  under  our  wings  and  not  use  it  ?  By  what  faculties 
are  we  to  get  knowledge  if  not  by  reason  ?  "  You  are  to  go 


GOD'S  GRACE.  267 

to  the  Bible,"  says  one.  Yes ;  but  do  you  suppose  that  we 
are  to  get  it  by  merely  reading  tbe  text  ?  When  I  read  the 
Bible,  I  interpret  it  by  my  reason.  Every  man  carries  his 
own  philosophy  of  the  Bible,  and  interprets  it  out  of  his  own 
knowledge  and  his  foregoing  states  of  mind. 

Do  you  tell  me  that  I  pervert  Scripture  because  I  inter- 
pret it  by  the  revelation  of  fact,  forming  my  knowledge  on 
that  revelation  ?  The  revelation  of  fact  is  the  revelation  of 
God.  When  a  man  ignores  fact,  and  tells  me,  without  any 
recognition  of  it,  to  use  my  reason  on  the  text,  I  resist  him, 
because  it  would  make  me  not  only  an  infidel,  but  an  idiot. 
Human  life  itself  is  of  God,  and  society  is  of  God ;  and 
both  of  them  rightly  studied  and  understood  are  authori- 
tative, and  are,  I  think,  co-incident  with  the  written  Word. 

Revelations  of  early  times,  and  mediaeval  times,  and  our 
times,  are  one  and  the  same,  and  they  all  point  in  the  general 
directions  of  the  want  and  weakness  and  sinf  ulness  of  men, 
and  of  the  power  and  glory  and  goodness  of  God. 

It  is  asked,  "Is  it  not  dangerous  to  teach  men  that  there 
is  infinite  goodness  in  God,  and  that  he  is  infinite  love  and 
infinite  grace  ?"  •  No.  The  presumptions  are  that  we  do  not 
teach  these  things  enough.  I  can  understand  how,  in  bar- 
baric conditions,  men  may  need  barbaric  conceptions  ;  I  can 
understand  how,  when  men  are  not  able  to  go  beyond  the  bar- 
baric monarchic  government,  the  forms  and  symbols  of  that 
government  might  do  them  good  in  a  certain  measure ;  but 
when  a  man  outgrows  and  rises  above  those  symbols,  they 
must  perish  with  the  using.  The  presumption  is  that  our 
conception  of  God  is  drawn  too  much  from  the  basilar  side 
of  our  nature  ;  too  much  from  the  animal  that  is  in  us  ;  too 
much  from  things  that  are  coarse  and  low.  The  probability 
is  that  we  misapprehend  God  because  we  are  not  fine  enough ; 
because  we  are  not  gracious  enough ;  because  we  have  not 
moulded  our  lives  according  to  the  law  of  justice  and  kind- 
ness ;  because  we  have  not  a  conception  of  that  paternity 
which  is  represented  by  the  suffering  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  as  epitomizing  the  divine  disposition  of  one  who  serves 
rather  than  demands  service,  and  suffers  rather  than  permit 
men  to  suffer.  This  conception  of  God,  which  has  been  given 


268  GOD'S  GRACE. 

to  the  world  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  makes  him  to  be 
sweeter  than  any  mother,  nobler  than  any  father,  grander 
than  any  judge,  and  more  puissant  than  the  most  glorious 
king  of  ideality — God  over  all,  blessed  forever,  because  for- 
ever blessing. 

Now,  if  there  be  those  who  are  distressed  at  this;  if 
there  be  those  who  feel  their  own  lowness,  their  own  hard- 
ness, their  own  ungraciousness  and  unilluminated  condition 
of  soul,  I  say  to  them,  "  Look  up.  You  have  a  High  Priest 
that  is  touched  with  a  feeling  both  of  infirmity  and  of  sin, 
and  that  has  been  made  an  offering  for  sin  in  your  behalf. 
You  have  a  God  who  is  in  sympathy  with  you,  who  knows 
just  what  you  are,  and  whence  you  come,  and  what  are  all 
the  concomitant  influences  which  are  at  work  upon  you. 
You  have  a  merciful  Father,  who  pities  you.  Better  than 
the  pity  of  a  mother  for  her  child  is  the  pity  of  God  for  you. 
And  whatever  may  be  your  want  of  encouragement,  what- 
eA^er  may  be  your  need  of  impulse  or  incitement,  by  the 
grace  of  God  you  shall  have  it."  It  is  by  the  grace  of  God 
that  we  are  saved.  It  is  out  of  the  fullness  of  the  generosity 
of  the  divine  inexhaustible  Heart  that  we  receive  all  divine 
gifts.  It  is  from  the  hand  of  God  that  the  supply  of  all  our 
necessities  springs,  and  will  spring,  until  the  race  is  disin- 
thralled ;  until  the  whole  divine  scheme  is  perfected ;  until 
we  are  lifted  above  shadows  and  uncertainties ;  until  we  are 
taken  away  from  this  life,  and  we  stand  with  open  vision  and 
with  grabeful  heart  to  behold  what  was  the  meaning  of  our 
history  on  earth,  and  we  lift  up  our  voice,  with  all  the  ran- 
somed, and  say,  "Blessing,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and 
:>ower,  be  unto  him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto 
(,!ie  Lamb,  for  ever  and  ever." 


GOD'S  GRACE.  369 


PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

WE  draw  near  to  thee,  our  Father,  not  as  to  a  fearful  and  avenging 
God,  but  as  to  a  merciful  High  Priest,  touched  with  a  feeling  of  our 
infirmities,  in  all  points  tempted  as  we  are,  and  yet  without  sin,  and 
in  full  sympathy  with  those  who  are  by  reason  of  sin  brought  into 
sorrow  and  trouble.  We  rejoice,  O  God,  to  believe  that  thou  art 
such  an  One  as  that,  in  thee,  at  last,  the  whole  universe  shall  find  rest. 
All  the  sorrows  which  we  behold,  receiving  them  upon  hearts  chas- 
tened and  educated  in  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  do  fill  us  with  won- 
der and  sorrow  again.  We  look  around,  and  we  look  forward,  and 
there  is  no  help  for  man  but  in  God.  We  rejoice  though  thou  seemest 
to  hide  thyself  from  us.  It  is  we  that  are  hidden,  and  not  thou. 
Thou  dwellest  in  the  largeness  and  in  the  liberty  of  the  Spirit  land. 
Thou  dost  dwell  with  those  that  are  perfect.  We  are  yet  undisclosed, 
hidden  by  our  opaque  bodies.  We  cannot  discern  thee  with  these 
rude  senses,  nor  come  into  communion  in  full  with  thee  even  by  that 
which  hath  been  developed  in  us  by  the  power  of  faith.  We  are  draw- 
ing nearer  to  that  land  where  we  shall  know  as  we  are  known,  where 
we  shall  see  even  as  we  are  seen,  and  shall  ourselves  be  perfect  in 
thine  image.  Grant  us  on  the  road  some  such  glimpses  of  light,  some 
such  foretokens,  that  we  shall  be  patient  with  the  greatness  of  the 
way,  and  confirmed  in  trust  as  against  our  fears,  and  in  love  as 
against  all  our  passions. 

Forgive  us  our  infirmities  and  our  sins.  Cleanse  us  from  the  power 
of  easily  besetting  sins,  and  of  inbred  sins.  Help  us  to  cast  them  out, 
and  manfully  to  contend  against  all  that  is  within  us.  Grant  that  we 
may  feel  the  inward  power  of  the  Divine  nature  working  hi  us  might- 
ily, so  that,  Jay  by  day,  we  shall  be  conscious  that  we  grow  stronger 
in  the  truth  and  in  things  that  are  right  and  godlike. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  prepare  us  this  day  by  its  knowledge,  by 
its  devotion,  and  by  its  sweet  influences  upon  the  soul,  for  all  the  con- 
flicts of  the  week  upon  which  we  have  entered.  May  we  learn 
patience  and  gentleness.  May  we  learn  to  be  strong  without  rude- 
ness. May  we  learn  to  confide  in  ourselves  with  full  faith,  yet 
without  conceit.  May  we  learn  without  presumption  to  trust  the 
providence  of  God,  and  the  revelation  of  every-day  life.  May  we 
seek,  under  all  circumstances,  to  be  thy  children,  bearing  about  with 
u-»  the  mind  of  Christ,  the  Spirit  of  the  Saviour,  under  all  provoca- 
lons,  and  enduring  steadfastly,  knowing  that  the  trial  of  our  faith  is 
more  precious  than  the  trial  of  gold. 

Grant,  O  Lord,  we  pray  thee,  thy  blessing  to  rest  upon  our  house- 
holds ;  upon  the  members  of  our  families ;  upon  any  who  are  sick  or 
weak.  Grant  that  we  may  be  restored  to  health  and  to  comfort. 
Dweil.  we  pray  thee,  in  every  bouse  where  sorrow  is.  Be  thou  the 
Saviour  of  sorrowing  souls.  Bring  them  out  of  their  tribulation,  or 
sanctify  to  them  their  distresses.  If  there  be  those  upon  whom  have 
come  sudden  and  amazing  afflictions  which  were  unforeseen ;  if  there 
b«  those  who  are  overthrown  and  quite  desolate  from  the  suddenness 
of  their  great  trouble,  wilt  thou  be  their  Saviour  and  Deliverer. 
Wilt  thou  send  thy  Spirit  to  be  their  abiding  Comforter. 


270  GOD'S  GRACE. 

Let  thy  blessing  rest,  we  beseech  of  thee,  upon  all  those  who  are 
perplexed;  upon  all  those  who  are  borne  down  by  cares;  upon  all 
those  on  whom  fall  burdens  which  are  heavier  than  they  can  bear. 
We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  grant  to  every  one  grace  according 
to  his  need.  May  those  who  are  seeking  their  way  alone  in  this 
world,  without  God  and  without  hope,  be  drawn  to  thee.  We  pray 
that  they  may  have  peace  and  help  in  their  time  of  need.  May  they 
not  fear  him  who  is  their  Saviour  and  Deliverer.  We  pray  for  those  who 
are  wandering ;  for  those  who  are  outcast ;  for  those  who  have  made 
themselves  willingly  the  slaves  of  sin;  for  those  who  have  formed 
evil  habits  which  despotize  over  them,  and  will  not  let  them  rest.  Be 
around  about  all  those  who  need  a  Saviour  to  seek  and  to  save  them. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  bless  all  the  churches  of  this  city. 
Strengthen  thy  servants  therein,  that  they  may  do  their  work  heart- 
ily as  unto  the  Lord,  and  not  as  unto  men.  Look  upon  this  nation, 
and  upon  its  churches,  and  upon  the  institutions  of  beneficence  which 
have  sprung  up  under  their  ministration.  Bless  all  schools,  all  acade- 
mies, all  colleges,  all  instruments  of  education.  May  the  light  be  dif- 
fused throughout  our  whole  population ;  and  may  they  have  it  soon- 
est who  need  it  most.  Wilt  thou  irradiate  those  who  sit  in  darkness 
and  in  the  shadow  of  death. 

And  we  pray,  not  for  ourselves  alone,  but  for  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  Grant,  O  Lord,  that  the  great  brotherhood  of  nations  at  last 
may  learn  their  happiness,  their  peace,  their  best  good.  We  pray 
that  war  may  die  out;  that  all  those  passions  from  which  war  bath 
sprung  may  be  curbed  and  restrained.  May  ignorance  be  driven 
away  as  the  night  before  the  coming  of  the  sun.  May  superstitions 
and  all  cruel  religions  cease.  May  the  whole  earth  come  at  last  to 
the  knowledge  of  God;  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  to 
a  knowledge  of  all  the  revelations  of  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  And 
so  may  there  be  peace  and  gladness,  and  may  the  whole  earth  be 
filled  with  thy  consolation. 

And  to  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Spirit  shall  be  praise  ever- 
more. Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

OTTB  Father,  we  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  draw  us  to  thyself 
with  fresh  confidence.  May  we  not  deceive  ourselves,  nor  seek  to 
hide  our  nakedness,  though  thou  walkest  in  the  garden.  Grant  that 
we  may  come  naked  and  open  before  him  with  whom  we  have  to  do, 
knowing  that  he  is  full  of  grace,  full  of  help,  and  full  of  endless  mer- 
cies. Deliver  us  from  fear.  Deliver  us  from  disobedience.  Deliver 
us  from  iniquity.  May  we  serve  thee;  and  be  thou  to  us  One  whom 
it  shall  be  joyful  to  us  to  serve.  Cleanse  our  minds  from  prejudice. 
Take  away  that  ignorance  which  separates  between  thee  and  us,  and 
bring  us  cear  that  we  may  have  the  feeling  of  sons,  and  rejoice  in 
thee  as  our  Father.  And  to  thy  name  shall  be  the  praise,  Father. 
Son,  and  Spirit.  Amen. 


IDEAL  CHRISTIANITY. 


I  propose  to  speak  to  you,  this  evening,  from  the  passage 
which  I  read  as  the  opening  service,  contained  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  second  Epistle  general  of  Peter ;  and  to  derive 
from  this  the  apostolic  conception  of  the  Christian  character, 
and  so  of  the  nature  of  Christianity  itself,  about  which  there 
is  in  our  time  so  much  discussion  and  so  much  uncertainty. 

"  Grace  and  peace  be  multiplied  unto  you  through  the  knowledge 
of  God,  and  of  Jesus,  our  Lord,  according  as  his  divine  power  hath 
given  unto  us  all  things  that  pertain  unto  life  and  godliness,  through 
the  knowledge  of  him  that  hath  called  us  to  glory  and  virtue: 
whereby  are  given  unto  us  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises ; 
that  by  these  ye  might  be  partakers  of  the  divine  nature,  having 
escaped  the  corruption  that  is  in  the  world  through  lust." 

When  you  think  of  the  way  in  which  men  are  often 
preached  to ;  how  they  are  pressed  to  go  through  a  certain 
line  of  narrow  experience ;  to  come  under  conviction,  and 
then  to  experience  conversion,  and  then  to  join  the  church, 
and  then  to  get  along  the  best  way  they  can  ;  when  you  look  at 
the  exhortations  which  are  made,  and  the  cautions  which  are 
given,  and  the  fears  which  are  excited,  and  the  guards  which 
are  set  up,  and  the  restrictions  which  are  laid  down,  how  poor 
and  mean  a  tiling  is  religion  !  If  one  be  born  with  a  goodly 
organization,  with  excellent  health  and  with  great  strength, 
I  do  not  wonder  that  oftentimes  he  looks  upon  the  represen- 
tations which  are  made  by  feeble  men  to  feeble  men  almost 
with  scorn,  and  certainly  with  a  contemptuous  rejection. 
Men  are  bound,  restriction  upon  restriction  being  put  upon 
them,  one  indulgence  after  another  indulgence  being  denied 
them,  and  one  pleasant  thing  after  another  pleasant  thing 
being  stripped  off  and  taken  away  from  them.  It  would  seem 

SUNDAY  EVENING,  May  31,  1874.     LESSON  :  2  Peter,  1-11.    HYMNS  (Plymouth  Col- 
lection) :  NDS.  898,  865, 1251. 


274:  IDEAL  CHRISTIANITY. 

as  though,  instead  of  the  free  exercise  of  thought,  or  the  un- 
restrained following  of  the  inspiration  of  the  nohler  feelings, 
men  were  called  to  keep  Sundays,  and  every  day  to  read  their 
Bibles,  every  day  to  say  their  prayers,  and  every  day  not  to  do 
this,  and  not  to  do  that,  and  not  to  do  the  other  thing,  until, 
like  the  Ten  Commandments,  th  jy  were  all  nots  and  nots  and 
nots — and  this,  with  the  expectation  that  if  they  maintained 
under  priestly  direction  all  these  various  negatives  through  to 
the  end  of  life,  hard  as  the  undertaking  is,  and  barren  as  it  is 
of  any  considerable  enjoyment  to  most  people,  they  would  be 
paid  up  for  it  at  last  by  being  permitted  to  go  to  heaven,  and 
get  there,  in  over-measure,  what  they  did  not  ge  fc  upon  earth. 
A  pretty  dreary  time  men  have,  being  in  the  church,  and  try- 
ing not  to  do  wrong,  and  denying  themselves  a  thousand 
pleasant  things  which  other  people  have  •  but  then,  when 
they  die,  they  expect  to  go  to  heaven,  and  be  happy,  and  get 
their  pay  in  over-measure  for  what  they  lose  here. 

Now,  hear  the  Apostle  Peter — that  bold  and  noble  apostle 
— calling  men  to  glory  and  to  virtue,  and  setting  before  them 
no  instrumentalities,  no  routine  whatsoever  of  church  life  or 
church  conduct,  but  this  :  "  That  ye  might  be  partakers  of 
the  divine  nature."  It  is  as  if  he  had  said,  "  I  call  you  all 
into  divine  freedom  and  fullness ;  I  call  you  to  a  complete 
enjoyment  of  being ;  to  plenary  will ;  to  more  glorious  inspi- 
rations ;  to  more  thought  and  feeling ;  to  a  larger  life  ;  to  a 
fuller  liberty  ;  I  call  you  from  barrenness  to  abundance ;  from 
bondage  to  freedom  ;  from  self,  which  is  narrowing  and  con- 
fining and  cheating  in  its  ultimate  remunerations,  to  a  pattern 
of  life,  to  a  conception  of  manhood,  which  shall  have  in  it 
the  fullness  of  joy  in  the  present,  and  hope  for  the  future — 
faith  and  fruition  united." 

The  conception  of  the  aim  of  life  as  making  a  church- 
man of  a  man,  and  the  apostolic  conception  as  making 
a  man  out  of  a  man,  are  very  different.  The  churchman  is 
made  up  of  obedience  to  rules  and  regulations  and  conven- 
tions and  instrumentalities.  There  are  so  many  things  to  be 
done  on  so  many  days;  there  are  so  many  things  to  be 
avoided  on  such  and  such  occasions ;  and  these  things  consti- 
tute a  retinue,  a  reticulation  of  minor,  subordinate,  material 


IDEAL  CHRISTIANITY.  275 

observances.  But  the  apostolic  conception  of  becoming  a 
Christian  is  a  transcend  en  tly  larger  way  of  living  than  you 
have  been  accustomed  to — a  redemption  from  the  power  of 
those  lusts  which  are  the  torment  of  men's  lives,  and  which 
are  the  reason  of  so  much  unhappiness,  so  much  fear,  so  much 
complication,  so  much  waste,  so  much  acute  sorrowing  mem- 
ory, so  much  remorse.  By  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by 
the  transcendent  influence  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  resting  upon 
the  souls  of  men,  they  receive  power  to  be  set  free  from  lusts, 
which  are  the  foundations  of  the  evils  which  are  in  the 
world.  And  by  this  same  divine  inspiration  or  knowledge  of 
God  through  Jesus  Christ,  they  are  to  aspire  to  a  partnership 
in  the  divine  nature.  The  words  of  the  apostle  are  these  : 

"  Whereby  are  given  unto  us  exceeding  great  and  precious  prom- 
ises; that  by  these  ye  might  be  partakers  of  the  divine  nature, 
having  escaped  the  corruption  that  is  in  the  world  through  lust." 

Such  is  the  apostolic  conception. 

Now  the  apostle  proceeds  to  a  general  and  most  significant 
exposition  of  this  idea  of  Christian  manhood.  He  gives  some 
substantial  elements  of  it.  And  I  beg  you  to  take  notice 
that,  when  he  is  writing  to  the  Christian  believers — to  those 
who  are  through  him  to  receive  their  knowledge — he  does 
not  say  a  single  word  as  to  when  they  shall  pray,  how  they 
shall  pray,  whether  they  shall  write  their  prayers,  whether 
somebody  shall  pray  for  them,  whether  they  shall  go  to  meet- 
ing, or  whether  they  shall  attend  church.  He  says  not  one 
word  about  the  external  harness.  He  strikes  at  the  central 
element — that  which  is  the  constituent  of  essential  man- 
hood— leaving  the  form  to  take  care  of  itself ;  leaving  men  to 
frame  it  to  suit  themselves ;  leaving  the  whole  apparatus,  all 
educatory  instrumentalities,  untouched.  He  strikes  at  that 
which  goes  to  make  up  the  foundation  element  of  a  true 
manly  life. 

Our  version  says : 

"And  besides  this  [which  does  not  convey  the  true  meaning: 
especially  this,  would  be  a  better  translation],  giving  all  diligence, 
add  to  your  faith  virtue." 

To  faith,  which  is  pre-supposed  as  a  condition  of  recip- 
iency,— the  mind  being  open  to  the  divine  existence,  to  the 
spiritual  character,  and  to  the  realities  of  the  invisible  and 


276  IDEAL   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  eternal — to  this,  is  to  be  added  virtue — the  whole  round 
of  things  which  are  esteemed  excellent,  whether  they  be 
higher  or  lower;  moralities;  whatsoever  is  justly  esteemed 
among  men.  Whatsoever  is  beautiful  and  dignified  and  right 
— this  is  to  be  added  to  your  virtue,  and  to  your  faith. 

"And  to  virtue,  knowledge." 

"What  is  meant  is  not  that  knowledge  which  is  obtained 
through  books,  but  that  knowledge  which  comes  from  prac- 
tical life ;  which  springs  from  the  absolute  exercise  of  one's 
moral  sense ;  which  is  gathered  in  the  conflicts  of  life ; 
which  proceeds  from  the  intercourse  of  man  with  man; 
which  arises  from  those  processes  which  we  designate  in  a 
larger  way  as  "experiences;"  which  the  soul  acquires  by 
campaigning;  by  which  a  man  becomes  a  veteran;  and  for 
which  there  is  almost  no  word.  It  does  not  exclude  the 
more  modern  forms  of  knowledge ;  neither  does  it  exclude 
ideas ;  nor  does  it  exclude  facts  ;  but  it  significantly  points  to 
that  kind  of  knowledge  which  is  vital  and  personal,  and 
which  belongs  to  a  man  as  his  own  achievement. 

"And  to  knowledge,  temperance." 

So  says  our  version.  The  original  word  might  be  more 
properly  translated  self-control.  Temperance  has  become  nar- 
rowed and  specialized,  particularly  in  our  land.  We  mean 
by  it,  not  exactly  temperance,  but  abstinence.  At  any  rate, 
the  word  does  not  convey  at  all  the  full  force  of  the  original. 
That  signifies,  rather,  the  right  handling  of  one's  soul — that 
kind  of  self-control  by  which  every  part  of  a  man's  nature 
has  a  chance  to  act  normally.  For  self-control  is  not,  in  the 
main,  suppression.  Self-government  does  not  necessarily 
mean  putting  down.  It  implies  such  an  ordering  of  one's 
self  that  each  element  of  a  man's  nature  shall  have  a  fail- 
opportunity  for  suitable  development  and  exercise.  If  there 
be  any  tumultuous  passion  that  rises  in  undue  strength,  and 
would  take  possession  of  the  whole  economy,  it  is  to  be  put 
down  enough  to  let  the  other  faculties  unfold  as  they  were 
by  nature  designed  to  unfold. 

It  would  be  unfair  for  a  man  to  take  a  thirty-two-foot 
pipe,  with  all  thunder  in  it,  and  play  it  here,  and  make  it 
drown  every  other  part  of  this  instrument.  The  art  of  play- 


IDEAL  CHRISTIANITY.  27? 

ing  the  organ  consists  in  securing  such  a  combination  of 
stops,  and  such  a  tempering  of  the  strong,  intermediate,  soft 
and  weak  tones,  that  every  part  shall  have  justice  done  to  it. 

Self-government  does  not  mean  slaughter,  except  meta- 
phorically. We  are  not  to  crucify  anything  that  has  been 
created  in  us.  There  is  no  one  appetite  or  passion  or  faculty 
or  power  of  the  whole  make-up  of  a  man  that  is  not  necessary 
to  his  being.  What  we  want,  therefore,  is  to  temper  together 
the  various  elements  of  our  constitution  so  that  they  shall 
stand  in  their  ranks,  affiliations,  and  co-operations,  those 
which  are  very  strong  being  kept  down,  and  those  which  are 
yet  weak  being  stimulated  and  brought  up.  We  are  to  add 
temperance  or  self-government — that  is,  the  right  manage- 
ment of  everything  that  is  in  us — to  knowledge. 

Well,  when  you  have  added  that  to  knowledge  and  virtue 
and  faith,  you  have  added  a  great  deal.  It  is  said  that  if  a 
man  governs  his  tongue  he  is  a  perfect  man.  It  used  to  be 
so  hard  to  do  it  that  a  man  who  could  do  it  was  thought  to 
be  capable  of  doing  anything.  A  man  who  is  naturally  dumb, 
and  governs  his  tongue,  is  no  better  for  it ;  a  man  who  does 
not  want  to  talk  may  govern  his  tongue,  and  it  will  be  no 
great  sign  of  virtue  in  him ;  but  for  a  person  who  is  alive 
with  curiosity,  who  is  intensely  desirous  of  hearing  everything 
that  is  said  or  can  be  said  ;  who,  by  reason  of  various  inflam- 
matory emotions,  is  excessively  garrulous — for  such  a  person 
to  govern  his  tongue  is  to  govern  a  great  deal  that  is  back 
of  it. 

Now,  if  a  man  can  govern  his  temper,  his  passions  of 
every  kind,  all  his  emotions ;  if  he  can  add  this  temperance, 
or  self-control,  to  knowledge,  as  that  is  added  to  virtue,  and 
as  that  is  added  to  faith,  then  certainly  he  is  a  great  distance 
on  the  way  toward  a  Christian  education. 

"  And  to  temperance  [or  self-control],  patience." 

Ah  !  it  is  getting  harder  and  harder.  A  man  may,  per- 
haps, for  a  little  while,  by  a  good  deal  of  effort,  hold  on, 
keep  down,  push  up ;  but  to  continue  to  do  it  day  by  day 
and  not  get  weary,  to  undergo  perpetual  provocation  and  not 
give  out,  is  not  an  easy  thing.  One  can  bear  pain  of  body 
for  a  little  while,  but  continuous  pain  exhausts  patience  and 


278  IDEAL  CHRISTIANITY. 

overreaches  courage.  And  so  in  regard  to  a  man's  emotion, 
or  in  regard  to  that  discipline  of  Providence  in  which  he  is 
placed,  to  hold  one's  self  calmly  balanced,  well-ordered, 
rightly  governed,  even  for  a  day,  is  no  small  matter.  On  so 
balmy  a  day  as  this  glorious  Sunday  has  been,  with  the 
heavens  propitious,  with  the  earth  beautiful,  with  God  inter- 
mingled with  all  things  that  the  eye  delights  to  look  upon . 
or  that  the  ear  delights  to  listen  to — on  such  a  day  as  this, 
one  might  walk  in  peace ;  but  who  shall  hold  the  man  in  the 
same  mood  to-morrow,  and  the  next  day,  and  the  next, 
patient,  so  as  that  the  provocations,  and  agitations,  and 
swellings,  and  surgings,  and  oscillations  which  come  from 
men  busy  in  life  shall  not  be  able  to  shake  him  from  the 
steadfast  purpose  of  self-government  ? 

"And  to  patience  [when  you  have  it]  godliness." 

Do  not  be  content  to  maintain  yourself  in  a  beggarly 
equilibrium,  partly  by  the  support  of  your  household,  partly 
by  the  support  of  those  around  you,  bolstering  yourself  up, 
as  it  were,  by  your  own  affairs,  so  that  men  shall  see  that 
you  are  living  a  quiet,  upright,  temperate,  self-governed  life, 
and  look  upon  it  as  a  beautiful  morality :  nay,  let  there  be 
prayer,  devotion,  spirituality,  godliness,  so  that  this  shall  not 
be  a  mere  secular  experience,  but  an  experience  manifestly 
reaching  up  to  and  taking  hold  of  the  sublimest  realities  of 
the  other  life. 

Well,  is  not  adding  godliness  enough  ?  If  a  man  is  godly 
is  not  that  sufficient  ?  No.  I  have  seen  a  great  many  godly 
men  who  lacked  many  things  that  are  desirable.  I  have  seen 
very  godly  men  who  did  not  take  any  notice  of  children.  I 
have  seen  men  who  were  so  godly  that  they  had  very  little 
sympathy  with  men:  they  sympathized  with  God  pretty  much 
altogether.  I  have  seen  men  who  were  so  godly  that  they 
lived  in  the  thought  of  the  divine  government,  and  the 
divine  justice,  and  the  divine  nature,  and  were  forever  talk- 
ing of  God,  and  of  his  kingdom  and  of  his  realm,  and  were 
forever  praying  to  him,  and  had  no  thought  for  their  fellow- 
creatures. 

So,  then,  we  are  to  add  to  our  patience  godliness,  and  to 
godliness — what  do  you  think  ? 


IDEAL  CHRISTIANITY.  279 

"  And  to  godliness,  brotherly  kindness  [sympathy  of  man  v.  ith 
man]." 

Come  out  of  your  closet  as  Moses  came  down  from  the 
mountain — with  his  face  shining,  though  he  did  not  know  it 
himself.  Come  with  all  your  inward  control,  your  aspira- 
tion, your  devoutness,  your  fervor,  your  knowledge,  your 
faith.  Come  with  all  the  Christian  elements  which  we  have 
thus  far  enumerated.  Do  not  act  as  if  you  were  better  than 
other  people,  or  lifted  above  them.  You  may  be  one  of 
God's  aristocrats ;  but  that  is  no  reason  why  you  should  hold 
your  head  up  among  men  and  walk  superior  to  them.  Add 
to  your  other  virtues  that  sweet  brotherly  sympathy  which 
shall  unite  you  to  all  those  who  are  around  about  you. 

Well,  is  not  that  enough  ?  No ;  because  men  may  say, 
"  I  thank  God  that  I  was  converted  in  the  Methodist  church ; 
I  do  love  the  Methodist  brethren;"  or  men  may  say,  "I 
never  hear  the  name  of  Plymouth  church  that  my  love  does 
not  go  out  toward  the  brethren  of  that  church."  There  is 
sympathy  between  you  and  those  of  your  own  church,  and 
that  is  all  right.  Churchmen  like  churchmen ;  Eoman 
Catholics  like  Eoman  Catholics — that  is,  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances. So  men  have  friendliness  and  fellowship  toward 
their  own  kind.  And  as  if  they  were  in  danger  of  narrow- 
ing their  intercourse  and  regard,  and  leaving  it  in  this  form, 
the  apostle  adds  a  larger  designation  which  you  cannot  escape 
— which  takes  in  everybody  : 

"  And  to  brotherly  kindness,  love." 

Love  is  the  crowning  virtue.  It  embraces  every  human 
being  not  only,  but  every  sentient  or  sensitive  thing ;  it  is  the 
essential  element  of  God.  It  is  in  love  that  we  become 
partakers  of  the  divine  nature,  if  anywhere  ;  for  no  man  can 
become  a  partaker  of  the  divine  nature  in  this  world  in  the 
matter  of  infinite  power,  nor  of  intuitive  and  certain  wisdom, 
nor  of  those  profound  and  mysterious  depths  of  excellence 
which  are  unrevealed  and  unrevealable.  God  is  love ;  he 
that  loveth  dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in  him  ;  and  it  is  at 
this  point  that  we  fail.  It  is  at  this  point  that  virtue,  self- 
control,  godliness,  sweet  fellowship,  all  the  various  roots  of 
Christian  character,  finally  come  together.  It  is  at  this  point 


280  IDEAL  CHRISTIANITY. 

of  universal  love  that  the  apostle  terminates  the  descrip- 
tion. 

We  are  not  called  to  church  membership ;  we  are  not 
called  to  the  renunciation  of  this,  that,  or  the  other  thing  ; 
we  are  called  to  the  nobility  of  a  transcendent  character ;  we 
are  called  to  strength  and  manliness ;  we  are  called  to  what- 
ever is  large  and  grand  in  human  nature. 

Therefore,  let  me  say,  in  regard  to  what  Christianity  is, 
that  it  is  the  ideal  of  a  certain  condition  of  mankind.  It  is 
God's  purpose,  made  manifest  through  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
to  evolve  from  the  human  race  a  divine  character.  There 
are  certain  externalities  of  Christianity  ;  there  is  a  historical 
line  of  antecedents ;  but  the  essential  thing  in  Christianity  is 
that  it  is  the  divine  plan  by  which  men  are  to  be  lifted  from 
the  lowest  animalism,  and  unfolded  into  the  grandeur  of 
spiritual  beings,  and  to  become  partakers  of  the  divine 
nature. 

Therefore,  Christianity  is  not  simply  a  schedule  of  doc- 
trines, any  more  than  plows  and  harrows  and  rakes  and 
spades  are  harvests.  They  are  not  grain  nor  corn,  though 
they  may  be  precedent  to  grain  and  corn.  They  are  indis- 
pensable to  the  production  of  these  things ;  but  they  are 
not  the  things  themselves :  they  are  the  mere  instruments 
by  which,  in  one  way  or  another,  such  results  are  worked 
out  and  elaborated. 

Now,  the  essential  element  of  Christianity  is  the  elevation 
of  the  human  nature  into  the  divine,  or  the  lapse,  the  de- 
scent, of  the  divine  nature  into  the  human,  for  the  purpose 
of  the  exaltation  of  the  human.  Whatsoever  things  come 
up  in  this  age,  that  are  of  moment  to  men,  are,  whether  they 
were  known  by  men  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  or  not,  part 
and  parcel  of  Christianity.  Christianity  is  a  thing  which 
cannot  be  written  in  a  book.  It  cannot  be  put  into  language 
nor  inventoried.  No  man  can  write  the  history  of  a  single 
human  soul.  We  have  histories,  but  what  are  they?  Do 
you  suppose  that  any  man  by  saying  "love"  expresses  love  ? 
Does  a  guide-board  which  stands  at  the  forks  of  a  road,  and 
says,  "  Forty  miles,"  contain  the  forty  miles  ?  Is  not  the 
guide-board  a  mere  symbol,  or  hint,  of  a  fact?  And  when 


IDEAL   CHRISTIANITY.  281 

God  speaks  by  the  words  of  the  Bible,  the  things  of  which 
he  speaks  are  not  in  that  Bible  ;  they  are  not  on  paper. 
When  he  utters  facts  concerning  men,  those  facts  exist,  not 
in  the  record,  but  in  the  actual  lives  of  individuals. 

Hence,  Christianity  cannot  be  compressed  into  a  little 
creed.  A  creed  may  point  to  things  which  are  extremely 
useful ;  but  the  things  themselves  cannot  be  put  into  a 
creed.  The  Bible — the  Old  Testament  and  the  New — is  a 
combination  of  indices.  Its  words  are  but  symbols ;  it  is  a 
history ;  it  is  a  collection  of  commands ;  it  is  an  indication 
of  certain  traits  *.  but  the  divine,  glorious,  loving  spirit, 
kindling  in  the  human  soul  a  corresponding  loving  spirit ; 
the  subjugation  of  the  whole  interior  man  to  the  lines  and 
limitations  of  the  divine ;  the  awakening  in  the  human  soul 
of  aspiration,  enthusiasm,  courage,  faith,  hope ;  the  leading 
that  soul  to  renounce  all  lust ;  the  producing  therein  friend- 
liness and  sympathy  and  love — can  printer's  ink  do  more 
than  hint  at  these  things  ?  They  are  made  up  of  throbbing 
souls.  They  spring  in  vital  forms  out  of  the  very  spirit  of 
man. 

So,  not  only  is  Christianity  a  spiritual  condition  of  living 
souls,  but  it  is  increscent.  It  cannot  be  expressed  once  for 
all.  Many  people  say,  "Will  there  never  be  anything  like 
stability  of  doctrine  ?"  I  hope  not.  I  should  be  sorry  if  the 
world  should  come  to  a  pause  in  such  a  sense  as  that  you 
could  express  now  all  that  man  is  ever  to  be,  or  that  experi- 
ence ever  is  to  unfold  either  in  the  individual  or  in  the  race. 
As  I  understand  the  divine  economy,  there  are  to  be  great 
riches  of  knowledge  yet.  There  are  to  be  better  social  combi- 
nations. There  is  to  be  a  better  beginning  given  to  every 
generation  of  men.  By-and-by,  when  God's  laws  are  better 
understood,  men  will  be  better  born — that  is,  they  will  be 
born  in  better  households  and  in  better  communities,  and 
will  be  inspired  by  nobler  knowledges  and  educating  influ- 
ences ;  and  there  will  be  experiences  such  as  are  not  possible 
now.  We  see  that  we  stand  better  than  our  fathers  did,  and 
that  they  stood  Letter  than  their  fathers  did.  We  see  that 
there  are  influences  working  toward  a  glorious  millennial  day, 
no  matter  what  falls  out  between. 


282  IDEAL  CHRISTIANITY. 

If  a  man  evolves  a  new  science  in  society,  and  claims  that 
it  is  better  than  anything  that  has  preceded  it,  and  it  proves 
to  be  better,  he  is  apt  to  turn  and  say,  "Where  are  your 
priests  now  ?  Where  are  your  churches  ?  Where  is  your 
theology  ?  Here  is  something  that  your  religion  never 
brought  out."  No,  our  religion  never  brought  it  out ;  but  it 
belongs  to  our  religion,  notwithstanding  ;  because  Christian- 
ity means,  not  just  so  much  as  is  in  a  book,  not  just  so  much 
as  has  been  unfolded,  but  all  possibilities.  Whatever  com- 
binations can  take  place  under  better  conditions,  under  no- 
bler inspirations — all  these  belong  to  the  idea  of  Christianity, 
according  to  the  declaration  of  the  apostle  Paul  in  an  almost 
parallel  passage  : 

"  Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  what- 
soever things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things 
are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report;  if  there  be  any 
virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these  things." 

Christianity  is  universal.  It  is  illimitable.  It  is  not  sim- 
ply what  has  been  gained  in  the  past ;  it  is  not  simply  the 
excogitations  of  the  present ;  it  is  not  simply  that  which  be- 
longs to  the  churches ;  it  is  inclusive  of  all  that  is  to  come. 
It  is  not  a  close  corporation.  It  is  not  confined  to  Christian 
organizations.  It  is  not  confined  to  the  narrow  limits  of 
human  creeds.  Books  cannot  contain  it.  It  belongs  to  the 
great  realm  of  ever-changing  experience.  It  is  a  living  state. 
Therefore  it  is  to  take  in  the  ends  of  the  earth,  the  full- 
ness of  time,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  race.  It  is  not  nar- 
rowed down  to  mere  technicalities,  or  instrumentalities,  or 
philosophies,  or  any  of  the  arrangements  which  belong  to  the 
lower  forms  of  spiritual  development. 

Consider,  now,  further,  the  view  of  the  apostle. 

"  Brethren,  give  diligence  to  make  your  calling  and  election  sure : 
for  if  ye  do  these  things  [if  you  pursue  this  line,  seeking  after  and  at- 
taining the  amplitude  and  the  combination  of  these  qualities],  ye  shall 
never  fall  [neither  now  nor  hereafter];  for  so  an  entrance  shall  be 
ministered  unto  you  abundantly  into  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 

That  is  a  verse  as  bold  as  it  very  well  can  be  in  our  trans- 
lation, and  as  magnificent  as  poet  can  imagine  in  the  original, 
where  the  verb  which  is  translated  an  abundant  entrance  shall 


[DEAL   CHRISTIANITT.  283 

be  ministered  unto  you  is  a  word  derived  from  the  practice  of 
receiving  conquerors  by  pouring  out  processions  with  banded 
music  from  the  cities,  to  meet  them  as  they  approach  to 
enter  in. 

If  you  pursue  this  high  perception  of  life  in  Jesus  Christ, 
seeking  for  the  divine  nature  in  the  respects  which  are  enu- 
merated here,  and  in  other  respects  which  are  not  here  men- 
tioned, it  will  not  be  in  vain  ;  for  at  death  you  shall  not  go 
out  like  a  bubble.  It  shall  not  be  in  vain  when  you  pass 
from  this  material  realm,  and  approach  the  other  life,  if  you 
have  with  patience  and  perseverance  pursued  these  things. 
When  you  draw  near  to  the  other  side,  not  having  been  bar- 
ren nor  unfruitful  in  these  things,  but  having  given  energy 
and  enthusiasm  and  power  to  this  exalted  sense  of  character, 
this  conception  of  Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory,  transform- 
ing reason,  and  moral  sense,  and  the  social  affections,  and 
over-ruling  the  lusts  and  appetites — if  thus  you  have  been 
abundant  and  fruitful,  then,  when  you  die,  no  matter  what 
the  circumstances  of  your  death  may  be,  you  will  die  glori- 
ously. 

As  from  the  weary  war,  with  torn  and  tattered  clothes  the 
conqueror  comes  back  bearing  on  his  person  and  habiliments 
something  of  every  soil  which  he  has  traversed  ;  as  worn  and 
tanned  and  wrinkled,  he  marches  out  from  some  forest,  and 
all  the  thoroughfare  is  thronged,  and  he  sees  banners  flying 
in  the  distance,  and  hears  sounds  rising,  and  growing  nearer 
and  more  distinct ;  as  at  length  couriers  rush  forth  to  meet 
him,  and  the  magistrates  come  out,  and  then  his  own 
friends  and  household  and  neighbors,  and  then  all  the  chief 
citizens  and  dignitaries,  and  finally  he  is  caught  up  in  a  whirl 
of  enthusiasm,  and  swept  in,  while  banners  are  waving,  and 
bands  are  playing,  and  crowds  are  shouting ;  so,  the  apostle 
says  they  who  give  their  souls  to  the  exemplification  of  this 
conception  of  Christian  manhood  shall  have  ministered  unto 
them  an  exceeding  abundant  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of 
God. 

It  will  make  a  great  deal  of  difference  in  heaven  how  you 
live  here.  If  you  live  penuriously  here,  you  may  limp  into 
heaven  like  a  pauper — and  that  will  be  a  great  deal  better 


284  IDEAL  CHRISTIANITY 

than  going  to  hell.  You  may  escape  so  as  by  fire.  As  men 
lush  out  from  a  burning  house,  not  able  even  to  seize  their 
raiment,  or  take  any  property  with  them,  so  some  men  may 
go  out  of  this  world  unclad,  and  get  into  heaven.  But  if 
you  live  according  to  the  spirit,  the  genius,  the  intent,  of 
Christ  and  his  apostles  ;  if  you  have  a  sense  of  the  grandeur 
and  manliness  which  there  is  in  a  Christian  life,  and  give  force 
and  enthusiasm  to  it,  and  fill  it  out ;  then  when  you  come  to 
the  other  life  you  shall  have  no  doubtful,  no  single-handed, 
no  mean  entrance  :  you  shall  come  in  crowned  with  triumphs, 
and  met  and  greeted  by  long  processions  of  those  who  have 
known  you,  and  those  whom  you  have  known ;  those  who 
have  helped  you,  and  those  whom  you  have  helped ;  those 
who  carried  you  in  their  arms,  and  those  whom  you  have 
carried  in  your  arms ;  those  over  whose  graves  you  have 
wept.  All  that  blessed  company — those  that  have  dwelt  long 
in  heaven,  and  those  that  have  lately  gone  there;  those  of 
high  estate ;  thrones,  principalities,  dominions,  powers ; 
those  of  every  reverend  and  sacred  name  ;  prophets,  apostles, 
and  martyrs ;  all  holy  men  ;  all  men  that  loved  their  kind  ; 
all  patriots,  philanthropists,  good  men — shall  joyously  throng 
to  behold  the  new  comers,  and  you  among  them,  crowned, 
not  with  gold,  but  with  that  which,  is  better,  royalty  of  heart ; 
and  then  you  shall  enter  in  to  be  forever  with  the  Lord,  the 
strife  at  last  being  over,  and  the  blossoming  time  having  come. 

I  shall  this  week  plant  seeds  that  I  shall  not  see  blossom 
this  summer.  They  must  go  over,  and  lie  still  through  the 
winter.  Next  summer  they  will  come  to  themselves,  and 
blossom. 

We  are  in  this  life  biennials.  The  first  summer  we  spend 
in  this  world,  and  the  second  in  the  other.  And  when  we 
shall  rise  into  that  other  life,  and  come  to  the  fullness  of  our- 
selves, to  the  beauty  and  power  and  glory  of  holiness,  to  the 
transcendent  wealth,  and  amplitude  of  love,  to  the  grandeur 
and  dignity  that  lie  in  the  possibilities  of  human  nature — oh, 
then,  with  what  triumph  shall  we  look  upon  all  the  danger 
of  the  way !  With  what  pity  shall  we  smile  at  ourselves,  to 
think  at  what  things  we  cried,  and  what  things  we  called 
burdens  and  self-denials ! 


IDEAL   CHRISTIANITY.  285 

A  man  takes  down  from  the  garret  a  cradle,  and  says  to 
himself,  "In  that  you  once  lay;"  and  he  laughs,  and  im- 
agines himself  crying  because  he  is  hungry,  and  being  taken 
up  by  the  nurse,  and  fed.  He  cannot  realize  that  he  was 
ever  in  a  state  of  infancy,  and  that  he  has  unfolded  so  much. 

So,  when,  from  the  other  life,  in  its  power  and  glory,  you 
look  back  to  the  conditions  of  this  life,  you  will  pity  your- 
selves that  you  were  ever  in  such  a  low  estate ;  but  the 
grandeur  of  the  outcome  will  a  thousand  times  repay  you  for 
all  the  strife  and  struggle  that  you  have  gone  through. 

I  call  you,  young  men  and  young  women,  to  a  Christian 
life.  I  call  you  not  to  join  a  church — a  church  is  a  mere 
school-house,  whose  educating  influences  may  help  you  or 
not,  according  as  you  use  it ;  but  I  call  you  to  something 
grander  than  joining  a  church  :  I  call  you  to  join  God ;  to 
become  partakers  of  the  divine  nature  ;  to  unite  yourselves  to 
all  that  is  glorious  in  universal  being.  I  call  you  to  the 
utmost  stretch  of  development,  to  largeness,  to  liberty,  to 
strength,  to  all  that  is  magnificent  in  the  possible  conception 
of  manhood.  I  call  you  to  take  it  easily  if  you  can  take  it 
easily  ;  or,  I  call  you  to  take  it  with  tears  if  you  can  take  it 
only  so.  If  the  way  is  strait  and  narrow  to  you,  neverthe- 
less tread  it :  it  is  worth  your  while.  If  it  be  difficult, 
nevertheless  tread  it,  and  come  to  that  which  is  true,  that 
which  is  pure,  that  which  is  courageous,  full  of  faith,  full  of 
self-government,  and  full  of  joy,  springing  out  of  right 
living.  I  call  you  to  an  inward  life.  I  call  you  to  virtue. 
I  call  you  to  glory  and  immortality. 


280  IDEAL   CHRISTIANITY. 


PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

THOU  hast  drawn  near  to  us,  our  Father,  and  thou  hast  called  us 
by  endearing  names  that  our  heart  knows  right  well ;  or  els«  why 
should  we  desire  thee  and  yearn  for  thee?  When  we  lift  tur 
thoughts  and  our  affections  to  thee  we  know  that  thou  hast  1  een 
calling  us,  and  we  rejoice  to  think  that  we  are  needed  by  thee — 
not  needed  by  thy  power,  not  needed  by  thy  glory,  but  needed  by 
thy  love.  Having  loved  thine  own,  thou  dost  love  them  unto  the 
end.  Thou  hast  not  forgotten,  and  never  dost  forget,  those  toward 
whom  thou  hast  expended  thy  thoughts  of  mercy  and  grace.  And 
now,  O  Lord  our  Saviour,  we  desire,  looking  upon  thee,  to  discern 
what  we  should  be.  We  would  take  no  ignoble  conception  of  life, 
and  character,  and  duty.  We  desire  to  be  conformed  to  thy  glorious 
image.  We  desire  to  walk  in  the  possession  of  those  virtues  which 
make  thee  illustrious  in  time,  and  glorious  through  eternity.  Teach 
us  the  way  of  humility,  of  self-abasement,  of  self-denial,  and  of  joy 
in  suffering.  Teach  us  how  to  partake  of  thy  nature,  and  so  become 
thy  children,  not  by  name,  but  in  very  spirit.  Forgive  us  the  long 
delays  which  have  prevented  the  work  of  grace  in  our  hearts;  forgive 
our  dullness,  our  constantly  turning  back,  our  discouragement  and 
our  weariness  by  the  way.  Forgive  our  imperfection,  and  whatever 
has  grieved  thee;  and  give  not  up  the  work  which  thou  hast  begun  in 
us,  and  which  shall  be  more  glorious  inasmuch  as  it  is  difficult.  If 
thou  shalt  perfect  in  us  the  image  of  holiness  and  of  God,  and  make 
us  like  unto  thyself,  and  present  us  before  the  throne  of  thy  Father, 
pure  and  spotless,  how  great  shall  be  the  glory  of  this  achievement  of 
thy  grace!  For  thine  own  sake  we  beseech  of  thee  forsake  us  not, 
nor  give  us  over  to  doubt,  or  to  backsliding,  or  to  apostacy.  May  we 
have  a  faith  that  shall  not  fail,  a  virtue  that  shall  abound  mere  and 
more,  and  all  patience,  all  self-denial,  and  self-government;  and 
grant  that  we  may  be  steadfast  therein. 

Grant,  we  beseech  of  thee,  that  by  the  power  which  we  derive 
from  thee  of  joy,  of  peace,  of  hope  and  of  courage,  we  may  not  only 
make  our  own  lives  more  radiant,  but  may  make  the  lives  of  those 
around  us  more  cheerful. 

Since  men  are  bearing  heavy  burdens,  and  are  goaded  with  cares 
and  many  troubles  from  day  to  day,  may  it  be  ours  to  be  messengers 
of  peaco  to  them.  Teach  us  how  to  comfort;  how  to  illumine;  how 
to  make  men  happy ;  how  to  fill  the  world  around  us  with  rejoic- 
ing. May  we  please,  not  ourselves,  but  others,  for  edification. 

We  pray,  O  Lord,  that  thou  wilt  grant  that  those  who  are  engaged 
in  good  works,  in  labors  among  men  in  imitation  of  thee,  may  be 
strengthened  with  all  patience  and  with  all  hopefulness.  Wilt  thou 
be  pleased  to  grant,  very  speedily,  to  them  that  sow  the  seed,  the 
sheaf  garnered.  We  thank  tbee  that  there  is  so  much  encouragement 
to  labor.  We  thank  thee  that  there  is  between  the  asking  and  the 
answer  so  brief  a  space.  We  thank  thee  that  those  who  go  forth 
come  again  rejoicing  so  soon. 

Bless  all  those  who  are  engaged  in  making  known  the  word  of 


IDEAL  CHRISTIANITY.  287 

life— in  bearing  the  fruit  of  the  Gospel  to  those  who  are  less  favored 
than  themselves. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  all  the  members  of  this  church,  of  its 
schools  and  of  its  missions,  may  dwell  in  thy  remembrance,  and  be 
quickened  day  by  day.  not  only  bearing  out  blessings  to  others,  but 
receiving  blessings  themselves.  May  they  be  built  up  in  thy  faith, 
and  established  in  those  virtues  which  they  seek  to  inculcate. 

We  pray  for  all  the  churches  in  this  city,  and  all  who  labor  in 
Miem.  May  they  be  united  more  and  more  perfectly  in  love.  May 
'all  evils  that  offend  and  divide  be  taken  away.  May  thy  people  of 
every  name  see  eye  to  eye.  May  heart  beat  responsive  to  heart.  And 
through  this  land  take  away  all  causes  of  offense.  Unite  thy  people 
that  there  may  be  a  power  for  intell'gence  and  right-living  that  shall 
be  felt  throughout  this  great  nation. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  bless  all  colleges  and  universi- 
ties and  schools,  and  that  thou  wilt  bless  those  that  teach,  that  intel- 
ligence may  prevail  everywhere,  and  be  the  forerunner  of  virtue  and 
of  true  piety. 

Let  thy  kingdom  come  in  all  the  world.  May  men  who  have 
lived  to  destroy  learn  to  protect  and  build  up.  May  nations  be 
dashed  against  each  other  no  more.  May  peace  and  prosperity  pre- 
vail the  world  around,  that  thy  name  may  be  honored  and  glorified 
on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 

Hear  us  in  these  our  petitions,  and  answer  us  through  the  great 
grace  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom,  with  the  Father 
and  the  Spirit,  shall  be  praises  evermore.  Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

OUR  Father,  wilt  thou  add  thy  blessing  to  the  word  of  exhortation 
and  exposition.  Make  thy  truth  to  shine  into  the  inward  heart  of 
every  one.  Let  us  not  stumble  upon  the  letter  nor  upon  the  instru- 
ment. May  we  have  the  Holy  Ghost — thy  divine  inshining— to  teach 
our  inner  man,  that  we  may  have  experimental  knowledge  of  thee, 
and  of  our  life  in  thee.  May  we  feel  that  the  channels  between  thee 
and  our  souls  are  not  stopped.  May  there  be  an  influx,  a  constant 
flow  of  thy  life  into  ours.  So  may  we  live  patient  under  trials,  strong 
under  burdens,  full  of  faith  under  clouds,  and  ready  to  live,  ready  to 
die,  dying  in  life  continually  to  all  that  is  evil,  and  living  to  all  that 
is  good.  Grant  that  the  Spirit  of  God  may  thus  be  with  us. 

We  thank  tbee  for  the  hope  of  those  who  have  gone  before.  How 
many  dear  little  children  of  ours  are  with  their  Saviour  and  with 
God  Our  parents  rest  from  their  labors,  and  rejoice  in  their  saintly 
habitations.  How  many  companions  of  ours  walk  no  more  weeping, 
no  more  sick,  no  more  suffering!  How  full  has  heaven  become  of 
those  who  are  precious  to  us!  And,  Lord,  we  are  coming,  sometimes 


288  IDEAL   CHRISTIANITY. 

lingering,  sometimes  losing  our  way,  but  drawn  by  a  thousand  mem- 
ories of  love,  drawn  by  the  inspiration  of  God,  drawn  by  the  power 
which  controls  the  universe;  and  grant  that  we  may  so  come  that 
thou  shalt  not  be  ashamed  of  us.  So  may  we  come  that  there  shall 
be  many  flocking  to  witness  our  entrance,  to  rejoice  in  us  and  with 
us,  and  to  lift  us  into  the  presence  of  the  Divine.  Then,  in  the  very 
hour  of  our  attainment  and  triumph,  what  crowns  and  laurels  we 
have  we  will  cast  at  thy  feet,  O  blessed  Jesus  Christ,  Master,  Model, 
Saviour,  Lord,  saying,  Not  unto  us,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  name 
be  the  praise  and  the  glory,  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen. 


"  Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear 
what  we  shall  be:  but  we  know  that,  when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall 
be  like  him ;  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  And  every  man  that  hath 
this  hope  in  him  purifleth  himself,  even  as  he  is  pure."— 1  JOHN  iii.  2, 3. 

"For  I  reckon  that  the  sufferings  of  this  present  time  are  not 
worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us. 
For  the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature  waiteth  for  the  manifest- 
ation of  the  sons  of  God.  For  the  creature  was  made  subject  to 
vanity,  not  willingly,  but  by  reason  of  him  who  hath  subjected  the 
same  in  hope,  because  the  creature  itself  also  shall  be  delivered  from 
the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of 
God."— ROM.  viii.  18-21. 


Man's  imperfection,  the  universal  sinfulness  ot  man,  the 
corruption  of  man's  conduct,  and,  in  one  sense,  of  his  nature, 
has  been  admitted  in  all  ages,  and  by  all  schools  of  Christian 
theology,  and  just  as  much  in  other  religions  as  in  the  Chris- 
tian. It  is  a  fact  about  which  there  can  be  no  disputation. 
The  whole  world  lies  in  wickedness. 

The  theory  or  philosophy  of  the  fact  of  universal  sinful 
ness  has  varied.  Without  regarding  for  a  moment  the  con- 
ceptions given  by  those  of  other  religions,  there  are  two 
Scriptural  germs  from  which  two  very  different  views  of  the 
condition  of  the  human  race  may  be  evolved.  One  is  the 
historic,  or  supposed  historic,  view  regarding  the  origin  ot 
man  ;  and  the  other  is  what  might  be  called  the  prospective, 
the  prophetic  view,  as  regards  the  development  or  termina- 
tion of  man — one  acting  from  the  past,  and  laying  founda- 
tions in  supposed  history,  and  the  other  taking  its  forms 

SUNDAY  MORNING,  June  7,  1874.     LESSON  :  Matt.,  xx.  17-34.    HYMNS  (Plymouth 
Collection) :  NOB.  255, 1,235, 1,263. 


292  THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE. 

from  the  future  ideal,  and  arguing  from  that  what  must  be 
the  condition  antecedent  or  preceding  such  a  prophetic 
development. 

The  parable  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  of  the  fall  of  man, 
and  the  universal  sinfulness  of  men  as  derived  from  their 
involuntary  connection  with  the  great  unknown  Head, 
strangely  enough  has  formed  the  basis  of  the  most  enduring 
and  the  most  universal  theory,  a  theory,  however,  which  is 
also  the  most  oppressive,  and  the  most  inconsistent  with  every 
one  of  those  feelings  which  spring  up  under  a  rigorous  edu- 
cation in  the  ethical  principles  of  the  Gospel. 

It  is  not  possible  to  develop  in  the  human  mind  that 
character  which  made  Christ  what  he  was  ;  it  is  impossible 
to  develop  any  human  being  according  to  the  ethical  princi- 
ples which  Jesus  taught,  and  then,  in  the  light  of  the  text 
and  of  the  reason  and  the  humanity  of  any  Christian 
period,  to  go  back  and  assume  the  facts  and  the  philosophy 
which  have  lain  at  the  basis  of  the  theology  of  ages,  without 
the  violation  of  every  moral  instinct,  of  the  sense  of  truth, 
of  the  sense  of  justice,  and  of  the  sense  of  honor.  Truth, 
justice,  and  honor  are  in  such  a  sense  fundamental  that  if 
you  violate  them  there  is  no  foundation  on  which  any  system 
can  stand,  and  all  systems  must  go  to  the  dust ;  and  that 
religion  which  has  come  down  to  us  teaching  that  we  are 
condemned  not  on  account  of  what  we  have  ourselves  done, 
but  on  account  of  that  which  was  done  for  us  thousands  of 
years  ago ;  that  religion  which  teaches  us  that  we  are  held 
amenable  to  eternal  penalty  on  account  of  the  sins  of  others, 
is  so  violative  of  every  educated  instinct  of  right  and  justice 
that  no  man  can  contemplate  it  with  any  degree  of  moral 
emotion  and  not  repudiate  it  in  his  nature  as  the  foundation 
of  a  theology. 

This  view  when  compared  with  the  views  of  human 
experience  under  a  divine  providence  grows  more  repugnant 
to  the  educated  moral  sense  of  mankind  under  Gospel  influ- 
ences. It  contorts  the  truth,  and  distorts  our  view  of  the 
divine  government.  It  puts  the  divine  government  on 
grounds  which  in  any  human  government  would  be  scandal- 
ous. It  attributes  to  God  elements  of  character  and  of 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE.  293 

administration  which  would  cover  any  earthly  ruler  or  parent 
with  infamy. 

The  difficulty  is  not  alleviated  by  saying  that  God  is 
greater  than  man,  that  he  is  infinitely  powerful,  that  there- 
fore that  which  is  right  in  man  would  not  necessarily  be 
right  in  God,  and  that  that  which  is  right  in  God  may  be 
wrong  in  man.  Such  a  line  of  reasoning  as  this  confounds 
the  radical  elements  of  right  and  wrong,  and  destroys  the 
moral  sense  of  the  rules  of  judgment ;  for  that  which  is  right 
in  God  must  be  right  in  man,  relative  to  his  condition,  and 
in  due  proportion  and  measure.  The  essential  quality  of 
right  must  be  the  same  as  regards  the  ruler  and  the  ruled,  at 
one  end  of  the  law  or  the  other ;  for  if  I  am  wicked  in  such 
a  way  as  to  subject  me  to  eternal  penalty,  with  what  kind  of 
reasoning  or  conscience  can  I  turn  around  and  confess  my 
guiltiness  and  my  desert  of  everlasting  punishment,  and 
then  worship  the  same  act  which  I  condemn  in  myself, 
springing  from  the  same  attribute  in  God  ?  It  stultifies 
human  nature  to  do  it.  That  which  is  wicked  in  man  would 
be  wicked  in  God  ;  and  it  would  be  as  much  worse  in  God 
than  in  man  as  it  is  more  pernicious  in  an  infinite  being  at 
the  head  of  government  than  it  can  be  in  an  insignificant 
being  at  the  bottom  of  government.  There  must  be  the 
same  truth,  the  same  justice,  the  same  rectitude,  the  same 
benevolence,  the  same  morality,  in  the  one  case  as  in  the 
other.  There  must  be  one  platform  both  for  him  that  rules 
upon  the  circle  of  the  heavens  and  for  them  that  are  ruled 
in  the  lower  parts  of  the  earth. 

In  the  New  Testament  there  appears  a  new  germ,  which, 
although  it  is  not  developed,  is,  both  by  John  and  by  the 
Apostle  Paul,  opened  in  such  a  degree  as  to  make  its  develop- 
ment quite  possible,  indeed  almost  inevitable,  with  us.  It  is 
derived,  not  from  the  past,  but  from  the  future.  I  have  just 
read  in  your  hearing  Paul's  latent  theory: 

"  The  creature  was  made  subject  to  vanity." 

By  vanity  is  understood  the  transient,  the  evanescent, 
the  secular. 

"  The  creature  was  made  subject  to  vanity,  not  willingly,  but  by 
reason  of  him  who  hath  subjected  tho  same  in  hope." 


294  THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE. 

The  creature  was  made  subject  to  the  laws  and  conditions 
of  this  mortal  life — it  fell  out  that  men  were  created  as  they 
were  under  the  present  laws  of  the  discipline  of  this  world — 
by  reason  of  the  great  and  joyous  hope,  that  lay  along  the 
line  of  promised  development.  While  the  old  theory  declares 
that  men  are  in  this  world,  in  the  condition  in  which  they 
are,  in  consequence  of  Adam's  sin,  Paul,  looking  the  other 
way,  says  that,  while  men  in  this  world  are  subjected  unwill- 
ingly to  laws  of  limitation  and  weakness,  it  is  for  the  sake  of 
gradually  unfolding  and  developing  them  ;  ''because,"  as  he 
further  says,  "the  creature  itself  also  shall  ~be  delivered  from 
the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the 
children  of  God." 

That  is  to  say,  looking  in  the  light  of  the  Gospel 
upon  the  fact  of  the  world  lying  in  wickedness,  Paul  says, 
"  I  behold  the  great  race  in  that  condition,  not  on  account 
of  their  own  willingness,  but  being  subjected  thereto  by  God, 
because  it  is  a  scheme  which  promises,  through  the  very 
experiences  of  this  condition,  to  open  them  more  and  more 
gloriously,  until  at  last  they  shall  break  out  of  their  nascent 
state,  and  come  into  a  later  stage  of  glorious  liberty,  and  be 
the  children  of  God." 

We  are  bora,  not  of  Adam,  but  of  Christ.  Our  roots 
take  hold,  not  of  the  old  soil  of  Eden,  but  of  the  soil  of  the 
New  Jerusalem.  Our  theory  of  life  is  not  to  be  evolved 
from  the  poems  or  the  parabolic  teachings  that  are  but 
shadows  and  intimations  and  hints  and  dark  sayings,  ac- 
cording to  the  line  of  the  instruction  of  antiquity.  We  are 
to  take  the  clearer  light  which  shines  from  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  the  light  of  God's  providence  ;  the  light  of  the  inter- 
pretation of  that  system  of  things  under  which  we  live. 

Now  under  this  mode  of  teaching  the  imperfection  of 
the  race  and  its  urgent  necessities  are  recognized  just  as 
clearly  as  they  are  in  the  old  view.  Ministers  and  others 
are  afraid,  and  very  justly,  of  any  system  of  teaching 
which  lightens  the  sense  of  responsibility.  They  say  that 
men  are  prone  to  sink  back  to  animal  and  worldly  condi- 
tions, and  that  if  you  preach  nattering  doctrines  to  them, 
giving  them  to  understand  that  they  are  good,  and  that 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE.  295 

they  only  need  to  be  a  little  more  good ;  that  if  you  com- 
fort them  and  soothe  them  thus,  the  tendency  of  your  preach- 
ing will  be  to  carry  them  back  again  in  contentment  toward 
the  germ  and  the  seed.  The  fear  is  a  valid  one  ;  and  if  there 
were  no  other  way  in  which  to  prevent  so  serious  a  result,  we 
might  look  with  a  great  deal  more  allowance  upon  this  method 
of  declaring  that  men  inherited  from  Adam  a  corrupt  nature, 
that  they  all  fell  in  bim,  and  sinned  in  him,  and  so  were 
brought  under  liability  to  the  penalty  and  curse  of  God,  the 
sin  which  was  committed  by  their  federal  head  being  dis- 
tributed by  natural  generation  through  the  whole  race — if 
that  were  the  only  way  in  which  to  keep  men  from  the  dirt 
and  the  clay,  and  to  inspire  in  them  some  aspiration  toward 
higher  things,  then  there  would  be  more  justification  for  it ; 
but  it  is  not  the  only  way  :  it  is  of  all  ways  the  lowest  and 
the  poorest.  For  mankind  is  developing,  or  easily  may  be 
developed,  in  such  a  way  that  while  fear  is  not  dispensed 
with,  as  it  were,  from  behind,  yet  the  motive  power  in  ad- 
vance is  an  attraction  toward  things  that  are  good.  It  is  not 
the  fear  of  poverty  that  to-day  makes  men  work ;  it  is  the 
ambition  to  rise  higher.  It  is  the  development  of  a  more 
manly  quality  in  them  which  leads  them  on  to  desire  better 
conditions  of  life.  And  in  regard  to  the  whole  race,  if  they 
be  so  low  that  they  cannot  be  stirred  except  by  fear  in  its 
coarsest  forms,  then  that  may  be  used  ;  but  to  say  that  that 
view  is  so  essential  that  any  change  of  it  will  work  toward 
deterioration  is  false  in  fact,  and  still  more  false  in  phil- 
osophy. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  doctrine  that  the  creature  was 
made  subject  to  this  mortal  and  mutable  state  in  order  that 
out  of  it,  by  education  and  evolution,  under  the  influence 
and  guidance  of  the  divine  Spirit,  he  might  come  into  the 
larger  liberty,  not  of  animal  life,  nor  of  man's  life,  as  we 
understand  it  here,  but  of  the  life  of  the  sons  of  God — that 
doctrine  is  full  of  inspiration,  of  attraction  and  of  hope.  All 
that  is  sweet  in  purity,  all  that  is  winning  in  affection,  all 
that  is  fascinating  in  qualities  addressed  to  the  imagination, 
lies  in  such  a  theory  as  this  :  that  men  are  born  in  seminal 
forms  in  this  world ;  that  the  race  comes  in  at  the  lowest 


296  THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE. 

point ;  and  that  it  is  the  divine  plan  that  by  laws,  by  educa- 
tions, by  industries,  by  instructions,  under  the  supervision  of 
God's  providence,  and  under  the  stimulation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  they  may  be  unfolded,  and  that  by  successional 
developments  they  may  be  brought  out,  by-and-by,  into  a 
larger  sphere,  into  the  spiritual  sphere,  into  the  sonshiji 
sphere,  where  they  are  to  be  like  God.  That  theory  has  in  it 
all  the  stimulus  that  comes  from  the  fear  of  the  other  system, 
and  it  has  in  it  the  additional  attractions  and  inspirations 
which  belong  to  a  higher  moral  plane  of  instruction.  More 
than  that,  it  falls  in  with  a  man's  reason.  It  quadrates  with 
a  man's  moral  sense.  It  is  in  accordance  with  facts.  It  may 
not  be  with  some  men  any  further  confirmation,  though  it 
will  be  with  others,  that  it  lies  in  the  line  in  which  modem 
philosophy  seems  likely  to  travel.  The  unfolding  of  the  most 
materialistic  school  lies  in  the  same  direction.  It  lies  in  the 
same  line  as  the  science  of  our  day,  which  is  strangely  co-inci- 
dent with  the  line  of  thought  of  Paul,  of  John,  of  Peter,  and 
of  the  whole  of  the  New  Testament  writers  ;  and  when  it 
shall  be  completed,  I  believe  it  will  be  the  best  commentary 
on  the  New  Testament  that  was  ever  written.  The  New 
Testament  is  a  very  good  commentary  on  the  Old,  but  the 
Old  Testament  is  a  very  poor  commentary  on  the  New. 

Secondly,  this  view  of  man,  as  created  at  a  low  estate  on 
purpose,  as  brought  into  this  life  at  the  bottom,  rising 
higher  and  higher  through  a  series  of  educational  develop- 
ments, and  promising  a  final  future  manhood  most  glorious, 
does  not  do  away  with  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  and 
efficacious  influence  of  God's  Spirit.  To  teach,  as  every 
man  in  the  scientific  world  does  teach,  that  the  floral  king- 
dom has  been  developed  from  lower  forms  by  growth  through 
successive  stages  of  evolution  up  to  its  present  condition  of 
variation  is  not  absurd,  as  many  have  thought  that  it  was  ; 
there  is  not  a  botanist  forty  years  old  on  the  globe  who 
does  not  accept  the  doctrine  of  evolution  in  respect  to 
the  vegetable  kingdom ;  but  suppose  a  man  fifty  or  sixty 
years  old  should  say,  "  To  teach  that  vegetation  develops  in 
this  way  is  to  teach  that  plants  can  get  along  without  the  sun; 
and  we  know  that  the  sun  is  indispensable  to  the  develop- 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE.  297 

ment  of  plants"  ?  You  may  not  see  any  logical  connection 
here,  and  there  is  none  ;  but  the  objection  is  precisely  paral- 
lel to  the  fears  of  many  men  who  say,  "  If  a  man  is  born  into 
this  sphere  on  a  lower  plane,  and  if  the  divine  problem  is  the 
evolution  of  men  up  through  social,  intellectual,  moral  and 
spiritual  conditions  to  the  higher  state,  then  where  is  the  uee 
of  the  Holy  Spirit?"  Just  as  if  the  plan  of  evolution  did 
not  make  a  guiding  supernal  light,  warmth  and  stimulation 
more  necessary  !  The  function  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  accord- 
ing to  the  old  theory,  is  to  work  in  special  lines  of  election. 
The  whole  world  lies  in  wickedness ;  and  the  vast  majority  of 
men  in  accordance  with  that  scheme  are  to  be  damned.  A 
handful,  here  and  there,  are  elected  to  be  saved  ;  and  these 
elect,  these  glass-house  plants,  as  it  were,  these  conservatory 
vegetables  under  a  glass  church,  the  Divine  Spirit  is  sup- 
posed to  be  working  upon.  That  is  the  view  which  goes 
with  the  old  system  and  the  old  theology. 

In  the  New  Testament  theology  the  teaching  is  that  man 
"  was  made  subject  to  vanity,  not  willingly,  but  by  reason  of 
him  who  hath  subjected  the  same  in  hope,"  because  the 
creature  looks  forward  to  the  glorious  evolution  and  dis- 
closure of  itself  in  the  sonship  of  God ;  but  under  such  a 
system  the  revelation  of  the  Divine  Spirit  is  universal.  It 
belongs  to  all  ages  and  to  every  creature  on  the  globe.  It  is 
infinite  in  its  extent,  as  well  as  necessary — more  necessary  a 
thousand  fold  than  in  the  artificial  function  which  has  been 
given  to  the  Divine  Spirit  by  the  old  theology.  For  what 
the  sun  is  doing  on  this  terraqueous  globe,  through  ages  vivi- 
fying it,  and  unfolding  it  toward  ideal  excellence,  that  same 
thing  is  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  doing  upon  the  higher 
organizations  in  this  world.  The  intelligent  thought  and 
soul  of  God,  poured  forth  and  stimulating  the  whole  uni- 
verse, is  the  operation  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  according  to  the 
New  Testament  view  of  the  origin  of  man,  of  his  nature  and 
of  his  destiny.  It  does  not  do  away  with  that  doctrine.  It 
enlarges  it  and  glorifies  it,  and  exalts  its  sphere.  It  makes  the 
functions  of  the  Divine  Spirit  wonderful  in  the  eyes  of  men 
who  look  upon  the  infinite  necessities  of  this  great  outlying 
infantile  race,  that  waits  for  its  disclosure  and  development. 


298  THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE. 

The  reality,  the  intelligibility,  and  the  necessity  of  the 
new  birth  are  even  more  apparent  under  this  New  Testament 
view  of  the  origin  and  the  destiny  of  the  race.  It  is  held 
under  the  old  theology  that  there  is  to  be  an  absolute  change 
— that  all  whom  God  elects  he  calls  with  an  effectual  calling, 
and  that  those  who  are  called  with  an  effectual  calling  are 
transformed,  through  the  divine  Spirit,  by  a  renewing  of 
their  minds,  and  brought  into  a  higher  or  Christian  state. 
This  is  a  view  which,  with  the  exception  of  the  limitations 
of  the  present,  is  not  to  be  contested.  It  is  a  view  which 
ought  to  fill  the  mind  with  undying  gladness.  But  it  is 
even  larger  than  we  have  been  accustomed  to  teach  it  or 
understand  it.  If  you  understand  that  men  begin  low  down 
in  their  animal  natures,  and  that  there  is  forever  a  yivific 
influence  everywhere  of  the  divine  Spirit,  by  which  what- 
ever is  reasonable  and  moral  and  spiritual  in  man  shall 
come  to  a  point  where  it  dominates  over  the  physical  and 
animal,  so  that  the  forces  of  a  man's  inward  life  and  out- 
ward life  become  rational  and  religious,  then  that  point  at 
which  the  spiritual  comes  into  dominancy  over  the  physical 
is  the  transition  between  death  and  life,  between  animalism 
and  spiritualism,  between  the  natural  man  and  the  spiritual 
man,  between  the  flesh  and  the  spirit,  which  Paul  so  much 
discusses.  In  other  words,  when,  in  the  process  of  divine 
providence,  men  come  to  that  point  in  which  there  is  a  clear 
ascendency  in  them  of  that  which  is  high,  and  pure,  and 
moral  and  religious,  they  are  born  into  the  spiritual  life ;  it 
is  a  new  birth.  When  men  who  live  by  the  appetites,  by  the 
passions,  by  the  will,  by  pride,  by  vanity,  by  selfishness, 
begin  to  live  by  rectitude,  by  love,  by  mercy,  by  justice,  by 
truth,  by  goodness,  there  is  a  transition  from  the  animal  to 
the  spiritual  and  the  rational;  and  the  transition  is  actual 
and  noble. 

Now,  if  this  be  a  peculiarity  of  the  development  of  the 
race  instead  of  a  few  favored  individuals,  and  if  it  be 
understood,  and  avowed,  and  taught,  it  gives  to  the  doc- 
trine of  regeneration  and  the  new  birth  a  grandeur  and 
dignity  which  it  has  not  had  in  times  gone  by,  when,  ac- 
cording to  the  ecclesiastical  system,  it  was  a  special  act,  be- 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE.  299 

longing  to  a  limited  view.  This  race-doctrine,  proclaimed 
as  a  part  of  God's  great  system,  coordinate  and  coinci- 
dent with  nature,  and  as  a  part  of  nature  looked  at,  not 
from  a  theologic  standard,  but  from  the  divine  standpoint, 
in  which  time,  and  the  world's  history,  and  the  evolution  of 
the  races,  by  all  influences  as  being  elements  of  God's  vast 
economy,  by  the  influx  of  the  divine  Spirit  lifting  men  higher 
and  higher,  through  the  moral  state,  through  commerce, 
through  industries,  through  everything,  from  heaven  to 
earth— all  things,  working  together  for  good — this  doctrine 
of  race-development  by  a  new  birth  into  a  new  life  is  grander 
than  the  special  doctrine  taught  by  the  old  theology.  The 
special  doctrine  is  true  even  in  its  specialty ;  and  it  is  more 
true  than  it  has  been  taught  to  be  hitherto.  Its  limits  are 
wider,  its  operation  is  more  universal,  than  men  have  been 
wont  to  suppose. 

This  view  shows  why  it  is  that  a  larger  revelation  of  the 
future  is  not  given  to  men  ;  why  so  much  is  yet  vague.  We 
are  constantly  met  with  difficulties  about  the  world  to  come. 
Things  have  been  exaggerated  and  over-estimated.  The 
Bible  has  been  taught  as  containing  something  of  everything 
that  a  man  could  ever  want ;  and  men  have  used  it  as  though 
it  were  an  encyclopedia  of  human  knowledge,  as  well  as  a 
book  of  hints  and  general  sailing  directions.  It  was  sup- 
posed, in  the  earlier  ages  of  the  church,  that  it  taught 
astronomy.  There  was  a  grand  fight  on  that  subject,  and 
then  the  church  turned  round  and  said,  "  Well,  it  is  a  reve- 
lation ;  and  revelation  does  not  undertake  to  teach  science : 
it  only  undertakes  to  teach  morality  ;"  and  gradually  they  gave 
up  that  the  astronomy  of  Galileo  need  not  be  squared  with 
the  astronomy  of  Genesis. 

The  modern  school  of  astronomers  do  not  admit  that 
there  were  simply  six  literal  days  of  creation.  When  the 
geologists  of  England  first  began  to  develop  the  fact  of  the 
ages  of  creation  as  indicated  in  that  other  book,  that  rev- 
elation which  men  had  tramped  on  and  had  not  read,  an- 
other theory  was  set  on  foot ;  and  by  and  by  the  force  of 
facts  as  developed  in  scientific  schools  compelled  men  of 
reason  to  admit  that  time  and  the  world  were  right  in  the 


300  THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE. 

way  of  the  theory  of  the  absolute  creation  in  six  days  of 
twenty-four  hours  each.  Here  and  there  you  will  find  a  man 
yet  who  holds  that  the  world  was  created  in  six  days  by  a 
direct  fiat  of  the  divine  will.  Such  a  man  is  twin  brother  of 
the  oldest  mummy  in  the  tombs  of  Egypt ;  and  I  think  the 
mummy  is  the  better  of  the  two  ! 

But,  then,  it  was  said  that  the  Scriptures  taught  it ;  rn.' 
the  difficulty  was  evaded  by  saying,  again,  that  the  Scri]  - 
tures  were  designed  to  teach,  not  how  the  world  came  into 
existence,  but  how  men  were  to  get  out  of  it  and  be  saved. 

In  the  same  way,  the  whole  Levitical  system  was  neces- 
sarily dropped  out  of  Christian  ecclesiasticism,  because  it  was 
not  adapted  to  modern  times  and  ways. 

Then,  more  lately,  have  come  the  psychological  and  eth- 
nological investigations,  inquiries  into  the  history  of  the  race, 
by  which  is  to  be  determined  how  men  came  into  this  world  ; 
and  it  looks  as  though  it  were  going  to  be  shown  that  men 
did  not  come  according  to  the  literal  statements  concerning 
the  Garden  of  Eden,  that  they  did  not  come  from  the  loins 
of  the  one  man,  Adam  :  all  the  facts  disclosed  by  scien- 
tific investigation  point  to  the  development  of  men  from  the 
lowest  form  of  savage  life,  by  continuous  gradations,  running 
through  all  ages.  "  But,"  say  men,  "if  you  take  that  view, 
you  will  destroy  the  Bible  ;"  and  they  have  said  that  at  every 
single  step  in  which  science  has  set  forth  the  facts  of  God  as 
they  are  revealed,  in  the  immutable  testimony  of  nature. 
First  the  priest  has  run  his  head  against  it — and  the  fact  has 
not  been  destroyed  in  any  case. 

Now,  if  it  be  determined,  by  the  analogy  of  nature,  by 
the  study  of  customs  and  of  governments,  by  tracing  the 
peculiarities  of  judicial  systems,  by  examining  into  ethnic 
ideas,  the  history  of  law  being  studied,  the  history  of  schools 
being  studied,  the  history  of  the  moral  sense  of  mankind  being 
studied — if  it  be  determined  as  a  fact  that  these  things  all 
converge  toward  one  central  teaching  of  the  past,  the  time 
is  coming  when  you  will  do  in  this  case  what  you  did  iii  the 
cases  of  geology  and  astronomy  and  the  Levitical  system — 
admit  the  fact  as  incontrovertible  ;  and  you  must  see  to  it,  if 
the  fact  is  universal  and  belongs  to  the  divine  economy,  and 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE.  301 

is  a  part  of  the  structure  of  God's  creation,  and  is  a  revela- 
tion of  God,  that  it  is  reconciled  with  the  other  divine 
revelation. 

It  is  assumed  that  the  revelation  of  the  letter,  on  paper, 
is  superior  to  the  revelation  of  fact  in  nature.  I  shall  not 
discuss  that  question.  I  only  say  this  :  that  the  revelation  of 
fact  exterior  to  the  Bible  invariably  carries  the  day, — and  will ; 
must ;  ought  to.  God  has  spoken  by  the  heavens,  by  the  earth, 
and  by  the  experience  of  the  race.  His  revelation  is  em- 
bodied in  laws,  in  customs,  in  religions,  in  histories.  It  is  set 
forth  by  the  industries  of  the  world,  and  by  the  whole  earthly 
conception  of  life.  These  have  been  gathered  up  in  various 
ways ;  and  all  of  them  are  part  and  parcel  of  a  grander  and 
wider  scheme  than  has  hitherto  been  embraced  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  religion  of  the  New  Testament.  Paul  saw 
it,  and  John  felt  it.  Paul  almost  stated  it  in  philosophical 
terms.  He  looked  out  upon  the  world,  and  he  saw  that  the 
problem  of  life  was  the  problem  of  a  race  striving  on  one 
side  against  the  animal,  and  seeking  on  the  other  side  for  the 
highest  manhood  elements ;  and  he  says,  "  These  are  irrecon- 
cilable. The  flesh  lusteth  against  the  spirit,  and  the  spirit 
against  the  flesh. "  And  he  tell  us  too  that  this  conflict  did  not 
come  in  in  consequence  of  the  fall  of  man.  We  have  nothing 
to  do  with  it.  It  was  the  divine  decree,  or  the  problem  of 
creation,  that  men,  born  in  a  lower  state,  should  escape,  by 
development  and  education  under  the  divine  Spirit,  out  of 
the  lower  forms  of  life  into  the  higher  forms.  And  conver- 
sion, translation,  is  the  successive  evolution  of  men  toward 
that  higher  development  in  the  life  that  is  to  come. 

This  brings  me  back  to  the  opening  sentence  of  this  head 
— namely,  Why  are  we  not  put  in  better  information  with 
regard  to  these  ultimate  conditions?  Why  does  not  the 
Word  of  God  teach  us  more  than  it  has  on  such  subjects  ? 
The  only  explanation  that  we  have  is,  that  the  lower  stage 
cannot  understand  the  higher  stage. 

o  o 

If  my  beans  that  are  just  above  the  ground — two  great 
fat  leaves — could  talk,  they  would  say  to  me,  "Explain  to  us, 
if  you  please,  what  we  are  going  to  be  ; "  and  I  should  say  to 
these  two  fatties  that  stand  there,  "  Well,  you  are  both  of 


302  THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE. 

you  going  to  be  sucked  dry,  you  are  going  to  quirl  up,  and 
you  are  going  to  fall  off."  "But  what  is  meant  by  our 
career  of  summer?  We  were  promised  that  if  we  would  be 
good  beans  we  should  have  a  whole  summer  of  splendid 
development ;  and  if  we  are  going  to  be  sucked  dry,  and 
quirl  up,  and  fall  off,  how  can  that  be  ?  We  are  only  leaves, 
and  cannot  understand  all  that  belongs  to  our  destiny ;  ;  o 
explain  to  us  the  rest."  I  say,  "  There  is  going  to  be  a  stem, 
a  vine,  and  it  is  going  to  twine  about  a  dry  stalk  that  is  called 
by  the  dignified  name  of  bean-pole  ;  and  there  is  to  be  a  blos- 
som at  every  axil ;  and  from  each  blossom  is  to  come  a  long 
pod."  "  What  do  you  mean  by  a  vine  ?  We  cannot  under- 
stand anything  except  leaves.  Being  leaves,  anything  outside 
of  leaves  transcends  our  knowledge." 

Well,  leaves  that  do  not  understand  anything  but  leaves, 
how  can  they  understand  a  vine,  or  an  axil,  or  blossoms,  or 
pods,  or  future  beans  ?  The  lower  does  not  understand  the 
higher. 

I  have  a  four-legged  heathen  on  my  place — "Tommy." 
He  is  a  most  intelligent  and  a  most  discriminating  little  dog  ; 
he  is  a  gentleman  in  disguise  ;  and  I  am  really  sorry  for  him 
that  he  cannot  talk.  If  ever  there  was  a  dog  that  was  dis- 
tressed to  think  that  he  could  not  talk,  that  dog  is.  I  sit  by 
him  on  the  bank,  of  a  summer  evening,  and  I  say,  "  Tommy, 
I  am  sorry  for  you  ;"  and  he  whines,  as  much  as  to  say,  "  So 
am  I."  I  say,  "Tommy,  I  should  like  to  tell  you  a  great 
many  things  that  you  are  worthy  of  knowing  ;"  and  I  do  not 
know  which  is  the  most  puzzled,  he  or  I — I  to  get  any  idea 
into  his  head,  or  he  to  get  any  out  of  mine  ;  but  there  it  is  : 
I  know  what  he  thinks,  and  he  knows  not  what  I  think.  He 
knows  that  there  is  something  above  a  dog ;  and  he  manifests 
his  canine  uneasiness  by  whining,  and  in  other  ways.  H's 
aspiration  shows  itself  from  his  ears  to  his  tail.  He  longs  to 
be  something  more  and  better  ;  he  yearns  to  occupy  a  larger 
sphere  ;  but,  after  all,  he  does  not,  and  he  cannot. 

I  think  you  will  find  a  much  more  dignified,  and  certainly 
a  more  philosophical,  explanation  of  that  very  state  of  facts, 
in  the  first  of  Corinthians  and  the  second  chapter,  from  the 
twelfth  to  the  sixteenth  verses  : 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE.  303 

"  Now  we  have  received,  not  the  spirit  of  the  world,  but  the 
spirit  which  is  of  God :  that  we  might  know  the  things  that  are  freely 
given  us  of  God.  Which  tliiugs  also  we  speak,  not  in  the  words 
which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teachetb ; 
comparing  spiritual  things  with  spiritual.  But  the  natural  man  [the 
man  of  nature — the  man  of  the  body — the  man  of  flesh]  receiveth 
not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  for  they  are  foolishness  unto 
him:  neither  can  he  know  them,  because  they  are  spiritually  dis- 
cerned. [They  are  to  be  recognized  by  the  spiritual  or  moral  facul- 
ties, and  not  by  the  flesh,  not  by  the  passions  and  appetites.]  But  he 
that  is  spiritual  judgeth  all  things,  yet  he  himself  is  judged  of  no 
man.  [The  higher  understands  the  lower,  but  the  lower  cannot 
understand  the  higher.  You  cannot  reach  up  to  things  of  which  you 
have  had  no  experience.]  For  who  hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord, 
that  he  may  instruct  him  ?  But  we  have  the  mind  of  Christ." 

By  just  so  much  as  men  hare  the  mind  of  Christ  they 
have  entered  into  the  higher  life,  they  are  in  the  experience 
of  it,  and  they  are  able  experimentally,  and  so  spiritually,  to 
understand  the  things  which  belong  to  it.  Therefore  there 
is  a  psychological  impossibility  of  developing  in  this  lower 
sphere  the  plenitude  of  the  truths  which  belong  to  the  higher 
sphere.  We  cany  civilization  <|own  to  the  lowest  races ;  but 
there  is  much  in  civilization  that  every  missionary  and  phi- 
lanthropist knows  cannot  be  at  first  accepted  by  the  converted 
heathen,  and  that  they  do  not  accept  until  after  two  or 
three  generations,  when  they  have  risen  to  the  higher  forms 
of  civilization.  These  advanced  conditions  have  to  be  grown 
into.  They  are  the  product  of  evolution. 

So  when  it  i^  asked  that  we  should  understand  the  whole 
economy  of  the  other  life,  how  is  it  possible  to  do  it  ?  How 
can  I  understand  what  that  life  is  in  which  there  is  no  flesh 
and  blood — I,  that  was  born  and  am  nurtured  by  flesh  and 
blood — except  by  fables,  by  poems,  or  by  fictitious  repre- 
sentations which  disclose  something  to  the  imagination,  but 
nothing  to  the  philosophic  and  fact-loving  powers  ?  You 
cannot  make  heaven  apparent  to  the  earth  until  the  heaven 
is  like  the  earth,  or  the  earth  is  like  the  heaven.  Therefore 
it  is  impossible,  in  the  nature  of  things,  to  bring  down 
more  than  the  shadow  of  divine  realities  to  the  minds  of 
men. 

In  the  night,  weary,  worn  with  watching  and  anxiety,  I 
say,  "Show  me  the  morning  and  the  morning's  sun."  "  Nay," 


304  THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE. 

says  the  watcher  by  my  side,  "  I  cannot  show  you  the  .sun  ; 
but  look  !  there  is  where  the  sun  is  coming  from,  and  there 
are  the  signs  of  his  coming  !"  I  behold  :  the  dark  is  turning 
to  gray,  the  gray  is  turning  to  pearl,  the  pearl  is  turning 
to  white,  and  the  white  is  turning  to  rose-color  ;  and  though 
I  see  not  that  which  is  called  morning,  though  I  ECO  not  the 
form  of  the  sun,  yet  I  see  where  it  is  coming  from  and  the 
evidences  of  its  coming. 

I  look  into  the  other  life  ;  and  men  say,  ' '  Tell  me,  shall 
I  fly  when  I  get  there  ?  Shall  I  move  without  feet  ?  Shall  I 
work  without  hands  ?"  I  know  not.  That  has  not  been  re- 
vealed to  me.  Probably  we  shall  not  work  tbere  with  such 
organs  as  we  work  with  here,  and  probably  we  shall  not  move 
there  in  the  same  way  that  we  do  here,  but  these  things  have 
not  been  revealed,  or  if  they  have  I  cannot  understand  them. 
How  can  I  understand  spirit  motion  and  life,  which  I  have 
not  made  a  matter  of  experience,  and  which  cannot  come 
except  through  experimental  means  ? 

I  have  experiences  which  interpret  some  things  to  me.  In 
the  highest  moods  of  inspiration,  when  I  stand  on  this  platform 
I  see  things  which  I  am  utterly  unable  to  see  in  my  study  or  in 
the  street.  I  see  logical  connections,  running  far,  and  com- 
prehending great  truths.  I  have  intuitions  of  character  and 
of  the  necessities  of  character.  T  have,  if  I  may  so  say,  cer- 
tain ideas  of  what  is  needful  for  the  reconciliation  and 
harmonization  of  human  affairs.  But  they  are  flights  ;  I  can- 
not reduce  them  to  language  ;  and  yet  they  fill  me  with  won- 
der and  delight,  so  that,  sometimes,  my  head  seems  like  a 
globe  of  fire.  I  cannot  even  bring  them  to  my  own  thought ; 
they  elude  all  after-analysis  ;  I  cannot  put  them  in  any  book ; 
I  cannot  expound  them  by  words  ;  but  I  have  them  ;  and  they 
give  me  a  sense  of  what  the  freedom  of  the  soul  is,  and  of 
what  the  after-life  may  be,  though  I  cannot  put  them  in  any 
tangible  form. 

I  sleep  Saturday  nights  for  Sundays ;  and  my  best  ser- 
mons^ are  always  slept  out — to  relieve  you  of  that  necessity  I 
Often  and  often  I  wake  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  on 
Sunday,  and  lie  in  just  so  much  somnolency  that  I  am  un- 
conscious of  it.  It  seems  as  though  the  body  slept  while  the 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE.  305 

reason  and  the  moral  sense  were  awake.  It  is  frequently 
when  lying  in  that  state  that  I  fashion  out  sermons ;  and  if 
you  could  only  hear  them,  you  never  would  want  to  hear  the 
ones  that  you  do  hear,  they  are  so  much  larger,  and  so  much 
more  symmetrical.  There  is  an  element  in  them  that  I  can- 
not describe  ;  and  I  often  spring  from  my  bed,  and  say, 
"God  help  me,  I  will  have  a  sermon  to-day;"  but  the 
moment  I  try  to  imprison  it  into  words,  it  is  gone ;  and  I 
say  to  myself,  "  I  have  an  experience  of  the  higher  mind, 
educated  above  the  appetites  and  passions,  and  brought  into 
an  elevated  condition  in  which  I  have  a  discernment,  a  moral 
sense,  of  the  possibilities  of  the  human  faculties."  I  have  a 
faint,  a  feeble  analogue  of  the  disclosures  of  the  other  life ; 
but  I  cannot  define  it  to  myself,  and  I  certainly  cannot  ex- 
pound it  to  you.  I  can  say  that  I  have  it — that  is  all. 

Now,  extend  this  to  the  whole  realm.  Suppose  it  to  be 
the  divine  problem  to  begin  man  in  the  seminal  form,  and  to 
carry  him  up,  stage  by  stage,  working  by  nature,  by  society, 
by  organizations,  by  all  instrumentalities,  to  a  certain  point 
of  education  in  this  life  where  he  shall  break  out  into  a  higher 
one,  where  he  shall  say,  "I  am  a  son  of  God,  I  have  felt 
my  sonship,  but  what  it  shall  be  I  do  not  know."  And  sup- 
pose he  now  says,  "0  God,  reveal  it  to  me;"  God  answers 
back  to  him,  "  You  understand,  and  can  understand,  only 
what  you  have  experienced."  The  only  way  in  which  a  man 
can  be  taught  anything  that  he  wants  to  know  is  through 
his  experience. 

Revelation  teaches  us  eternity.  That  is  a  thing  which  is 
not  necessarily  a  matter  of  experience.  It  teaches  us  certain 
•reneralities,  the  understanding  of  which  does  not  depend 
.ipon  experience.  It  teaches  us  that  heaven  is  a  place  where 
there  is  no  sorrow,  and  where  there  are  joys  unutterable,  which 
go  on  in  gradations  and  ranks  and  cycles  forever.  These 
things  we  can  understand  in  general ;  but  it  is  not  about  these 
that  we  want  to  know.  I  want  to  know  how  I  shall  stand  by 
the  friend  that  I  loved  better  than  myself ;  and  the  heaven  is 
mute.  I  want  to  know  if  she  who  was  the  companion  of  my 
toil  and  trouble  and  sin  through  life,  whom  I  at  last  laid  in 
the  grave,  and  whom  I  wait  for  and  think  of,  will  seem  to  me 


306  TRE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE. 

as  she  was,  or  as  only  one  of  a  million  drops  that  go  to  consti- 
tute that  rainbow  of  glory  which  overhangs  the  throne  of  God  ; 
and  there  is  not  a  word.  Where  is  that  most  precious  band 
of  children  that  I  have  sent  forward  without  nurse,  without 
convoy,  without  teacher  and  without  guide  ?  I  gave  them 
to  the  airy  arms  of  the  unseen  God,  and  he  took  them  one 
by  one  from  me.  Are  they  children  yet  ?  Not  one  of  them 
will  answer  me.  Are  they  growing  ?  Nobody  will  tell  me. 
What  is  the  condition  of  childhood  in  heaven  ?  Children 
just  quickened,  dying  in  the  mother's  womb,  do  they  live 
again  ?  Children  born  crying  and  dying  in  one  breath,  have 
they  a  place  there  ? 

These  questions,  which  come  nearer  and  become  tenderer 
as  men  come  under  the  auspices  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  are 
things  of  which  there  is  not  a  word  said  in  revelation  ;  and 
we  stand  saying,  "  Why  have  not  these  things  been  revealed?  " 
The  only  reply  that  I  can  give  is  that  the  higher  can  un- 
derstand the  lower,  but  the  lower  cannot  understand  the 
higher.  In  the  words  of  our  text,  it  is  said,  "  Beloved,  now 
are  we  the  sons  of  God  1"  We  have  got  as  high  as  that ;  but 
what  that  means,  what  our  condition  shall  be,  what  is  to  be 
the  full  disclosure  of  sonship,  we  do  not  know  ;  Paul  did  not 
know ;  he  whose  head  rested  on  the  Saviour's  bosom  did  not 
know.  These  apostles,  who  were  forerunners  of  the  truth, 
who  lived  looking  into  the  heavenly  land,  and  who  were  the 
receptacles  of  divine  inspiration  by  which  light  was  made  to 
come  forth,  said  that  they  did  not  know  what  this  after  con- 
dition was  ;  and  how  shall  we  know  ?  It  doth  not  yet  ap- 
pear. This  we  know:  that  we  shall  see  him  then  as  he  is. 
Now  we  do  not  see  him  as  he  is.  Why  do  we  not  ?  For  the 
same  reason  that  you  do  not  see  a  thing  as  it  is  when  you  look 
through  an  imperfect  medium.  I  go  into  a  little  summer- 
house,  and  on  one  side  there  is  blue  glass,  on  another  side 
there  is  red  glass,  on  another  side  there  is  green  glass,  and 
on  the  other  side  there  is  yellow  glass.  When  I  look  through 
one,  all  creation  is  blue  ;  when  I  look  through  another,  it  is 
red;  when  I  look  through  another,  it  is  green  ;  and  when  1 
look  through  the  other,  it  is  yellow.  I  do  not  see  creation  as 
it  is,  but  as  these  several  glasses  color  it. 


THE  PROBLEM  OP  LIFE.  30? 

So  men  see  things  in  the  spirit  land  checkered  and 
deformed  by  the  imperfections  of  the  medium  through  which 
they  look.  The  glass  of  their  experience  is  colored,  or  is  full 
Of  wrinkles  and  warts.  One  interprets  God  from  the  intel- 
lectual side,  and  leaves  out  the  domestic  element.  .Another 
interprets  him  from  the  domestic  side,  and  leaves  out  the 
intellectual  element.  Our  conception  of  him,  by  reason  of 
his  magnitude  and  our  minitude,  is  split  up.  Therefore  we 
see  him,  not  as  he  is,  but  in  fragments.  The  apostle  says 
that  now  we  see  things  in  part,  but  that  when  that  which  is 
perfect  is  come  we  shall  see  things  in  whole.  He  says  that 
we  are  sons  of  God,  but  that  it  does  not  yet  appear  what  that 
means.  He  says,  however,  that -we  know  this:  that  when  we 
shall  see  him  as  he  is,  we  shall  be  like  him.  Yes ;  and  the 
reason  why  we  shall  see  him  will  be  because  we  are  like  him. 
It  is  through  identity,  through  likeness,  that  we  shall  behold 
him. 

They,  then,  who  beat  their  wings  against  such  cold  and 
everlasting  questions,  should  stay  their  curiosity,  their  doubts 
and  their  scepticisms.  Men  should  not  go  from  the  sanc- 
tuary or  from  the  tomb,  saying,  "  What  kind  of  a  reve- 
lation is  this,  which  tells  me  the  things  that  I  do  not  need  to 
know,  and  that  I  have  outlived,  or  that  society  has,  anyhow, 
and  that  does  not  tell  me  those  things  which  my  soul  is  in 
travail  about  ?  Where  are  my  sons  ?  Where  are  my  daugh- 
ters ?  Where  are  my  companions  ?  Where  are  my  instruc- 
tors? Where  are  those  who  were  more  to  me  than  life 
itself  ?  Tell  me,  0  thou  Heaven  !  The  only  answer  to  these 
questions  that  comes  back  to  us  is,  "  It  doth  not  yet  appear, 
but  it  shall."  And  we  must  take  all  these  ultimate  inquiries 
to  the  tribunal  of  the  great  hereafter.  It  is  ours  to  crucify 
the  flesh,  to  keep  down  lower  animal  man,  and  to  exalt  the 
spiritual  man,  the  moral  man,  and  the  reasoning  man.  It  is 
ours  to  bring  into  more  and  more  ascendancy  that  part  of 
our  nature  which  is  like  God. 

"  Blessed'  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God." 

The  eye  by  which  to  investigate  the  divine  nature  is  that 
by  which  you  are  like  the  divine. 

I  know  not  how  it  is  with  you,  but  as  I  grow  older,  and 


308  THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE. 

see  more  of  men,  and  study  in  detail  the  experiences,  the 
possibilities  and  necessities  that  are  upon  the  race,  I  do  not 
diminish  my  sense  of  the  sinfulness  of  mankind.  On  the 
contrary,  it  augments.  I  have  a  more  profound  sense  of 
the  sins  of  the  world. 

And  this  view  of  the  development  theory  as  it  is  applied 
to  the  problems  of  life  does  not  diminish  my  sense  of  the 
Divine  Spirit :  it  augments  it.  I  should  as  soon  expect  that 
plants  would  grow  without  the  summer's  sun  as  that  the 
human  race  would  be  developed  without  the  quickening  light 
and  power  of  the  spirit  of  God. 

It  does  not  take  away  from  me,  either,  a  sense  of  the 
necessity  of  a  new  birth.  If  we  could  but  read  it,  "Ye 
must  be  born  again"  is  written  more  plainly  in  nature  than 
it  is  in  the  "Word  of  God.  It  is  the  universal  experience. 

Neither  does  it  take  away  my  faith  in  the  future.  It 
bridges  the  chasm  between  this  world  and  the  other.  It  takes 
away  from  the  vagueness  which  exists  in  respect  to  the  world 
to  come.  It  gives  me  a  philosophical  reason  why  I  cannot 
understand  more  of  God,  and  of  the  conditions  of  the  heav- 
enly land.  It  awakens  in  my  soul  an  inexpressible  gladness 
of  hope,  because  it  enables  me  to  see  that  I  am  living  toward 
a  better  state  in  spite  of  sin,  and  fault,  and  backslidings  and 
stumblings.  I  as  certainly  know  the  way  in  which  my  life  is 
tending,  as  the  mariner  knows  what  port  he  is  making  for. 
That  port  he  means  to  reach  if  it  takes  him  months  and 
years,  no  matter  what  storms  he  may  encounter ;  and  I  mean 
to  reach  a  home  of  rest  beyond  the  grave  ;  and  looking 
through  sorrow,  through  temptation,  through  trial,  through 
discipline,  through  mistake,  through  sin,  through  guilt,  I 
behold  my  Pilot,  restorative  Love — Jesus  is  his  name  ;  and  by 
faith  of  him  I  live  in  hope,  knowing  the  work  which  he  has 
begun  and  the  attraction  which  he  has  set  on  foot,  and  that 
he  will  never  abandon  that  work  nor  diminish  that  attraction, 
so  that  at  last  I  shall  conquer,  and  more  than  conquer, 
through  him  who  loved  me,  and  who  is  forever  giving  him- 
self for  me. 

In  this  hope  I  do  not  ask  you  to  abandon  anything  of  the 
past  and  the  old,  but  I  urge  you  t^  ta  c  hold  of  the  future 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE.  309 

and  the  new.  Be  Christians  after  the  teachings  of  the  New 
Testament :  not  after  the  convictions  of  men,  nor  necessarily 
after  the  doctrines  of  the  church.  Be  guided  hy  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  your  souls,  and  by  the  instructions 
of  God  through  the  letter.  Look  through  the  eyes  of  the 
New  Testament  into  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  new  life,  the 
new  gladness,  the  sonship,  the  victory,  the  eternity  of  bless- 
edness. 


310  THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE. 

PRAYEK  BEFORE  THE   SERMON. 

THOU  art  unapproachable  even  by  our  thoughts,  O  thou  Almighty 
arid  everlasting  God.  By  searching  we  cannot  find  thee  out,  nor 
understand  the  Almighty  to  perfection.  We  approach  towards  the 
light,  but  the  compass  thereof,  the  going  forth,  the  source  and  glory, 
no  man  can  measure.  We  are  not  less  sure  that  thou  art  because 
thou  art  in  such  superabundance  above  our  conception.  We  rather 
rejoice  that  thou  art  lifted  up  above  the  apprehension  of  men;  that 
thou  art  more  just  and  more  gentle  than  men  know;  that  thou  art 
more  loving  and  more  lovable;  that  thou  art  more  powerful  by  thy 
heart  than  by  thy  hand ;  that  thou  dost  infinitely  transcend  the  best 
things  which  we  can  bring  to  the  conception  of  a  God.  And  we  shall 
not  be  disappointed  when  we  see  thee  as  thou  art,  and  not  as  by  the 
imperfect  hand  of  man  thou  hast  been  delineated.  When  we  behold 
thee  in  the  proportion,  and  glory,  and  grandeur  of  thy  whole  being, 
and  we  are  transformed  into  thine  image  and  likeness,  we  shall  be 
more  than  satisfied ;  we  shall  have  more  than  peace ;  we  shall  break 
forth  into  ecstacy;  and  we,  too,  shall  join  the  choral  throng  of  the 
universe  that  shall  ascribe  honor,  and  glory,  and  power,  and  domin- 
ion unto  Him  who  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb  for 
ever. 

Let  not,  we  beseech  of  thee,  the  brightness  of  the  heaven  where 
thou  dwellest  die  out  from  our  sight.  Because  we  cannot  take  thee  by 
the  hand,  because  we  may  not,  as  did  thy  servant  of  old,  lay  our  head 
upon  thy  breast,  let  us  not  forsake  the  thought  of  thee;  and  die  not 
out  of  our  mind  because  thou  art  not  visible  to  us.  Grant  that  we 
may  conceive  of  thee  as  a  companionable,  an  overhanging  and  a 
universal  presence,  though  thou  art  transcendent  above  all  we  know 
or  think,  of  being. 

Draw  near  to  us,  this  morning,  with  the  quickening  of  thy  brood- 
ing Spirit.  Draw  near  to  us  to  cleanse  our  hearts  from  fear,  from 
doubt,  from  guilt,  from  all  thoughts  which  are  unworthy  of  the  sons 
of  God.  Drew  near  to  inspire  in  us  all  confidence,  all  hope,  all  joy, 
and  all  peace.  Grant  that  in  thee  we  may  abide  surely,  strongly, 
beyond  the  reach  of  trouble — unreachable  by  temptation  even. 
Grant  that  the  fiery  darts  of  the  adversary  may  be  quenched  long 
before  they  strike  the  shield  of  our  salvation. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  grant  thy  blessing  to  rest,  this 
morning,  upon  every  one  that  hath  drawn  near  to  thee,  and  es- 
pecially and  first  to  those  who  seek  thee,  ready  to  perish.  Draw  near 
to  all  upon  whom  have  come  sudden  and  surprising  griefs ;  to  all  whose 
life  is  overcast  as  by  storms  falling  upon  the  noon-day  sun.  Grant 
that  in  their  desolation,  in  their  surprise,  and  in  the  anguish  of  their 
great  distress,  they  may  still  discern  thee.  Come  thou  to  them,  in 
the  night,  upon  the  stormy  sea,  walking  on  the  waves,  to  calm  their 
fear,  and  speak  to  them  that  they  may  find  in  thee  deliverance  from 
night,  and  darkness,  and  all  trouble.  Draw  near  to  those  who  are 
wounded  and  bruised  and  know  not  how  to  bind  up  their  wounds. 

Thou  everlasting  Comforter,  reveal  thyself  over  against  the 
world's  groanings  and  pains.  Hast  thou  forgotten  thy  skill  ?  Shall 


THE  PROBLEM   OF  LIFE  311 

the  desolate  ones  go  uncared  for?  Visit  those,  we  beseech  of  thee, 
who  sit  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death.  Bring  light  and  salvation 
to  every  heart  that  needs  thee  to-day. 

We  pray  for  those  who  are  tempted  more  than  they  are  able  to 
bear-  for  those  whose  better  hours  continually  point  to  the  higher 
way  'but  whose  hours  of  weakness  draw  them  down,  and  who  vacil- 
late between  poor  performance  and  good  endeavor;  and  those  who 
from  dav  to  day  are  drawn  this  way  and  that,  and  are  growing  uis- 
coura-ed  because  they  are  inconstant.  O  Lord,  wilt  thou  strengthen 
them"  Thou  that  dost  heal  the  maimed,  thou  that  dost  carry  those 
who  are  crippled,  canst  thou  not  still  do  for  the  soul,  in  the  plenitude 
of  thy  divine  and  heavenly  power,  what  thou  didst  for  the  body  in 
thiue  earthly  life  and  weakness? 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  succor  all  those  who  are  in  great  peril. 
Break  the  snare  for  those  who  are  about  to  be  caught  thereby.  May 
those  who  have  digged  pits  for  others  themselves  fall  therein,  and 
may  the  innocent  go  free. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  deliver  the  poor  from  hard-hearted  and 
hard-handed  men.  Give  guidance  and  direction  to  those  who  are 
perishing  for  lack  of  vision.  Help  those  to  put  their  care  upon  thee, 
the  great  Bearer  of  burdens,  who  are  oppressed  by  multitudinous 
cares.  We  pray  that  those  who  are  resting  in  their  own  wisdom 
which  is  from  beneath  may  find  better  guidance  in  faith  of  rectitude, 
faith  of  truth,  faith  of  the  divine  providence,  and  in  the  watch  and 
care  of  God  for  all  who  put  their  trust  in  him. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  make  it  easy  for  those  who  have 
gone  astray  from  thee  to  come  back  again.  Grant  that  they  may 
hear  thy  voice,  which  is  full  of  encouragement,  saying  to  them.  This 
is  the  way :  walk  ye  in  it.  And  if  there  be  any  prodigals  that  are 
wandering,  or  that  have  wandered,  and  that  are  seeking  to  return, 
go  thou  to  meet  them  »nd  find  them  ere  they  shall  come  back. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  thy  blessing  to  all  the  families  that 
are  represented  in  this  congregation.  May  the  blessing  of  Almighty 
God,  that  is  full  of  peace,  full  of  wisdom,  and  full  of  goodness,  dwell 
in  every  household,  that  it  may  become  a  pate  of  heaven. 

We  pray  for  all  who  go  forth  into  the  conflicts  of  life,  contesting 
it?  InttltM,  and  doing  valiantly  for  themselves  and  for  their  fellow?, 
th  vt  they  may  ba  stre-i^thenel  of  God  with  the  wisdom  that  is  from 
ab  >ve,  and  that  they  miv  be  able  to  acquit  themselves  like  men. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  prrant  a  blessing  upon  our  whole  land.  Be 
pleased  in  remember  and  to  bless  the  President  of  these  United 
States,  and  those  who  are  joined  with  him  in  authority.  Bless  the 
Congress  assembled,  that  it  may  have  inspired  wisdom,  and  that  it 
may  deliberate  upon  the  things  that  are  for  the  welfare  of  this 
nation.  Bless  all  judges,  and  courts,  and  magistrates,  and  rulers,  and 
the  whole  people,  that  they  may  be  obedient  unto  the  Lord,  and  wise 
and  temperate.  May  their  prosperity  stand  not  in  outward  things, 
but  in  a  truer  manhood ;  in  a  better,  and  wiser,  and  more  benevolent 
patriotism. 

And  we  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  not  bless  this  nation  at  the 
expense  of  any  other:  rather  bless  it  that  it  may  be  the  guide  of  the 


312  THE  PROBLEM  OF  LIFE. 

weak,  and  their  defender.  And  grant  that  all  may  partake  of  thy 
blessing. 

We  ask  for  ourselves  that  knowledge  may  prevail,  and  that  in  the 
light  of  truth  superstitions  may  flee  away,  that  ignorance  and  its 
hideous  brood  may  disappear,  and  that  the  things  which  distract 
and  torment  mankind  may  perish. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  speed  forward  that  great  and  glorious  day 
of  prediction  when  the  Lord  shall  shine  forth,  and  there  shall  be  no 
night,  but  the  glory  of  God  shall  reign  upon  the  earth  as  the  sun  in 
the  heavens.  O  Lord,  let  the  day  be  cut  short,  and  let  the  time 
hasten,  when  thou  shalt,  by  thine  appealing,  drive  away  all  doubt 
and  all  evil,  and  when  thy  will  shall  be  done  on  earth  as  in  heaven. 

Hear  us  in  these  our  petitions,  and  grant  unto  us  not  according  to 
the  wisdom  of  our  asking,  but  according  to  the  greatness  of  thy  love 
and  thy  wisdom.  And  to  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
shall  be  praise  evermore.  Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

OUR  Father,  wilt  thou  add  thy  blessing  to  the  word  that  has  been 
spoken.  Confirm  and  establish  our  faith  in  our  need,  in  its  supply,  in 
thy  providence,  and  in  the  mighty  power  with  which  thou  art  work- 
ing in  all  things  that  pertain  to  life  and  glory.  Grant  that  we  may 
come  into  more  blessed  confidence  with  Ihee.  May  we  not  be  afraid 
of  thee.  Thou  art  the  God  of  love.  Through  ages  men  have  not 
known  it,  and  they  have  made  thee  a  tyrant;  they  have  drawn 
scowls  on  thy  face;  and  they  have  made  thee  hate  where  thou  didst 
but  serve.  Thou  hast  through  ages  been  Father  and  Mother  of  the 
race.  Thou  hast  been  man's  helper  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world.  Take  away  the  barbaric,  and  give  us  the  Christian  view  of 
thy  nature,  that  we  may  walk  and  triumph  in  hope,  in  aspiration  and 
in  attainment,  as  much  as  through  groans,  through  tears,  through 
strifes,  through  defeats,  yea,  through  victories  and  gladness.  And 
thus  may  we  come  to  our  coronation,  so  that,  at  last,  when  our  name 
shall  be  spoken  in  heaven,  it  shall  be  with  shouts  of  gratulation  from 
those  who  have  known  us,  and  felt  our  power,  and  worked  with  us, 
and  for  us,  and  for  whom  we  have  worked;  and  then  may  we  enter 
in.  having  an  exceeding  abundant  entrance  ministered  unto  us, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 


UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 


"  Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged."    MATT,  vii.,  L 


Both  the  text  and  various  other  passages  show  that  this 
is  not  the  prohibition  of  the  formation  of  reasonable  judg- 
ment, whether  of  human  action,  of  human  conduct,  or  of 
human  character.  The  individual  action  is  judgeable  ;  con- 
tinuance of  action  upon  action,  or  conduct,  is  judgeable  ; 
and  the  resultant  product  of  conduct  —  namely,  character,  as 
formed  by  continuous  action  —  is  judgeable.  These  are  all 
of  them  severally  proper  subject  matters  of  judgment. 

Elsewhere,  a  test  is  given  by  which  we  may  come  to  a 
judgment  —  "  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them  ;"  and  in 
John  it  is  commanded,  "  Judge  not  according  to  the  appear- 
ance, but  judge  righteous  judgment." 

So,  then,  it  is  evident  that  it  is  not  the  full,  honest  and 
sincere  formation  of  a  judgment  with  grounds  and  reasons, 
and  in  a  right  frame  of  mind,  that  is  proscribed:  it  is  unjust, 
partial  and  uncharitable  judgment.  In  other  words,  that 
which  is  aimed  at  here  is  a  disposition  ;  and  unfortunately  it 
is  a  disposition  with  which  we  are  too  familiar  to  mistake  it. 
It  is  that  habit  of  mind  by  which  we  are  perpetually  criticis- 
ing men,  and  forming  and  expressing  opinions  which  repre- 
sent very  largely  our  moods,  —  favorable  when  they  please  us, 
and  unfavorable  when  they  displease  us.  It  is  the  habit  of 
seeing  in  men  their  faults,  rather  than  a  conclusive  and  com- 
prehensive estimate  of  faults  and  excellencies.  It  is  the  con- 
sideration of  men's  stumblings  and  wrong-doings,  without 


MORNING,  June  14,  1874,    LESSON  :  James  HI.    HYMNS  (Plymouth  Col- 
lection) :  Nus.  104,  1,023,  1,053. 


316  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 

any  consideration  of  their  circumstances,  or  of  the  influences 
that  are  brought  to  bear  upon  them.  In  short,  it  is  treating 
men  as  if  they  were  our  antagonists  and  we  were  their 
enemies.  It  is  untrue,  partial,  unjust,  unloving  criticism 
upon  our  fellow-men.  And  this  it  is  that  is  forbidden 
in  the  command,  "Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged;"  for 
he  who  out  of  such  a  state  of  mind  as  that  is  perpetually 
finding  fault  with  men,  and  setting  them  out  in  dis-esteein 
so  as  to  lower  them  in  their  own  sight  and  in  their  neigh- 
bor's, is  under  condemnation  already.  He  lives  in  an  un- 
charitable state  of  mind,  which  alienates  him  from  truth- 
fulness, and  keeps  him  out  of  the  communion  of  the  Saints, 
and  out  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

This  command,  then,  points  not  to  a  formal  regulated 
process,  which  oftentimes  is  indispensable  to  the  affairs  of 
men.  We  are  ourselves  called  to  discriminate  between  pal- 
pable good  and  palpable  evil ;  between  right  and  wrong ; 
between  truth  and  falsehood,  not  vaguely  and  extremely,  but 
as  they  appear  in  the  conduct  of  men.  It  would  be  a 
spurious  charity  indeed  that  should  confound  men's  moral 
qualities. 

If  a  man  assails  me  with  vituperation  and  with  the  lan- 
guage of  bitterness,  it  is  not  charity  in  me  to  say  that  that 
man  is  praising  me.  If  a  man  is  in  my  cherry  tree  stealing 
cherries,  it  is  false  charity  for  me  to  say,  "  I  think  he  is 
only  borrowing." 

Things  are  what  they  are,  and  we  have  a  right  to  look  at 
them  as  they  are.  In  dealing  with  men  you  must  judge  of 
moral  quality  ;  and  to  a  certain  extent,  also,  you  must  judge 
of  antecedent  dispositions.  In  the  case  of  those  with  whom 
you  have  no  dealings,  and  on  whom  you  look  as  a  spectator 
merely,  it  may  not  be  necessary  for  you  to  go  further  than  to 
form  general  judgments,  calm  and  dispassionate  ;  but  where 
you  are  called  to  deal  with  a  man  you  must  go  further  than 
that.  The  safety  of  your  affairs  and  of  the  affairs  of  others 
that  are  committed  to  your  administration  ;  the  interests  of 
the  community  ;  its  households  and  its  institutions — these 
may  depend  upon  your  forming  just  judgments  of  men,  so 
that  you  may  not  commit  trusts  to  unworthy  persons.  It 


UNJUST  JUDGMENTS.  317 

would  not  be  safe,  as  we  have  learned,  to  put  thieves  into 
treasure  rships.  It  would  not  be  safe  to  put  upon  the  bench, 
where  impartial  decisions  are  required,  notoriously  bribable 
and  partial  men.  You  must  discriminate. 

In  the  administration  of  affairs  there  are  those  who  are 
appointed  to  judge  of  actions  under  law  ;  and  they  of  course 
are  not  included  in  this  forbiddal.  They  judge,  but  their 
judgment  is  not  of  that  kind  which  is  involved  in  this 
passage.  So  there  may  be  critics  whose  business  it  is,  in 
history,  in  psychology,  or  in  scientific  research,  to  form 
measured  judgments  of  men,  of  their  actions,  and  of  the 
products  of  their  actions. 

The  spirit  of  our  text  does  not  forbid  any  of  these  things  f 
but  it  includes  in  it  all  social  under-valuing ;  all  ridiculing ; 
all  endless  and  aimless  criticising  ;  all  informal  condemning  j 
all  social  dissections  ;  the  whole  process  of  that  uncharitable 
underplay  which  goes  on  in  society,  and  whose  practical  re-* 
suit  is  far  worse  upon  the  general  condition  of  mankind  than 
would  be  heresy  or  even  infidelity  : — for  of  all  heresy,  want  of 
love  is  the  worst ;  there  is  no  infidelity  like  that  which  b 
false  to  mankind,  and  to  that  universal  kindness  and  chari- 
tableness which  one  man  owes  to  another.  "It  is  in  vain," 
says  John,  "for  a  man  to  say,  'I  love  God,'  if  he  hate  his 
brother."  It  is  in  vain  for  a  man  to  offer  service  in  the 
sanctuary,  and  sing  and  pray,  and  rise  on  cherub's  wings  of 
experience,  if  afterwards,  and  in  spite -of  that  experience,  his 
mind  is  in  such  an  attitude  that  he  looks  on  the  unfavorable 
sides  of  human  life,  and  always  sees  the  weakness,  the  fault, 
fchs  evil  that  is  in  men,  and  never  the  goodness,  the  excel- 
lence and  the  strength  that  is  in  them. 

This  disposition  of  criticism  or  uncharitable  judgment, 
whether  expressed  or  only  carried  in  the  silence  of  our  own 
souls,  springs  not  from  the  divine,  but  from  the  malign, 
elements  of  our  nature.  We  are  brethren  ;  we  are  children 
of  God  ;  we  are  allied  to  each  other  by  common  weakness,  by 
common  temptableness,  by  common  sinfulness,  by  common 
dependence  on  God's  forgiveness,  for  life  and  for  liberty  to 
think  and  feel ;  and  it  is  not  for  us,  united  together  by  these 
things,  to  occupy  ourselves  in  looking  up,  on  every  hand  and 


318  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 

wherever  an  opportunity  presents  itself,  those  things  which 
are  common  to  us  and  to  others,  for  condemnation. 

If  there  should  spring  up  in  a  hospital  a  disposition  of 
criticism ;  and  men  with  fevers  should  jibe  at  men  with 
dropsies;  and  men  with  dropsies  should  avenge  themselves 
by  pointing  over  to  men  with  ulcers  and  sores ;  and  men 
with  broken  arms  should  rail  at  men  whose  legs  instead  of 
their  arms  were  broken ;  if  men  who  were  outwardly  bruised 
and  contused  should  speak  contemptuously  of  men  who  were 
internally  diseased ;  if  men  with  cerebral  difficulties  should 
denounce  men  with  cardiac  difficulties — under  such  circum- 
stances a  state  of  things  would  exist  which  would  represent 
the  church  of  Christ,  in  which  persons  are  perpetually  find- 
ing fault  on  moral  grounds :  some  because  men  are  erratic 
in  judgment ;  some  because  men  are  faulty  in  ethics,  or 
ordinances,  or  this,  that  or  the  other  thing.  A  Christian 
criticises  others  for  failings  which  are  in  them  but  which 
are,  perhaps,  not  in  him,  while  all  of  them  together  are  in  a 
hospital,  and  each  has  his  special  ailment. 

This  whole  tendency  springs,  not  from  the  divine  that  is 
in  man,  but  from  the  remnants  that  are  in  him  of  that  which 
is  animal ;  and  you  will  take  notice  that  many  things  which 
are  indispensable,  and  are  virtues  in  the  lower  forms  of  exist- 
ence, become  in  the  higher  forms  of  existence  positive  vices. 

Thus,  when  there  is  in  a  community  no  common  protec- 
tion, no  law,  the  animal  existence  stands  upon  suspicion  and 
fear ;  and  readiness  to  suspect  and  to  strike  is  the  law  and 
condition  on  which  the  lower  animals  live :  but  as  men  de- 
velop out  of  animal  states  into  society  that  necessity  is  taken 
away  ;  and  as  society  becomes  more  and  more  purified  by  reli- 
gion, and  ascends,  the  critical  spirit,  the  seeing  of  things  that 
are  evil,  remains,  while  the  necessity  for  it  is  gone  ;  and  it  is  out 
of  this  remnant,  as  it  were,  of  animalism  in  men  that  this  con- 
stant tendency  to  judge  springs.  It  is  from  this  that  hasty  and 
uncharitable  judgments  usually  come.  It  is  a  very  deceitful 
spirit.  It  mistakes  one's  own  motives,  and  gives  activity  to  evil 
dispositions  in  ourselves  under  various  names.  There  are  a 
great  many  who  feel  called  by  their  consciences  to  play  the 
devil's  part,  accusing,  criticising  and  weighing  all  manner  of 


UNJUST  JUDGMENTS.  319 

evil  against  men,  not  because  they  have  any  particular  good 
in  view,  but  for  low  and  unjustifiable  reasons.  You  have  no 
right  to  speak  of  a  man's  fault  or  wrong  unless  you  have 
some  benevolent  object  in  view.  The  fact  that  a  thing  is 
true  does  not  make  it  right  for  you  to  publish  it.  You  have 
no  right  to  speak  of  men  at  their  worst  unless  there  be  a 
reason  for  it  which  will  stand  the  scrutiny  of  the  judgment- 
seat  of  charity.  It  is  Dot  enough  that  a  man  is  wrong,  or  is 
bad.  It  is  not  enough  that  a  man  has  a  fault,  and  that  he 
exercises  that  fault.  All  men  have  these  things ;  but  why 
should  they  be  dragged  out,  unless  there  be  some  hope, 
by  warning,  to  prevent  mischief,  or  to  rectify  and  cure  it? 
Charity,  or  true  divine  love,  forbids  us  to  disclose  the  imper- 
fections and  faults  of  others,  and  excuse  ourselves  by  say- 
ing, "  These  things  are  true,  and  I  think  it  is  necessary  that 
they  should  be  known.  It  is  my  duty  to  fight  wickedness 
wherever  I  find  it."  Then  stay  at  home,  and  you  will  find 
enough  to  keep  you  fighting  all  your  life  ! 

This  conscience  of  which  I  have  spoken  leads  men  to  seek 
out  and  set  their  seal  of  disapprobation  and  condemnation  on 
every  aberration,  on  every  fault  that  springs  from  a  morbid 
state  of  mind,  and  on  every  wrong.  It  is  simply  the  hypoc- 
risy of  conscience.  Conscience  gives  no  such  liberty  as  this. 

Some  men  exercise  the  same  spirit  under  the  form  of  a 
blunt,  plain-speaking  honesty.  They  blurt  out  disagreeable 
things  because  they  are  "so  blunt."  But  suppose  a  man  should 
go  into  society,  and  spit  right  and  left  because  he  was  such  a 
blunt  sort  of  man  ?  He  would  soon  be  ushered  out  of  any 
decent  society  or  house.  Yet  how  much  worse  than  spittle  is 
venom  !  and  when  a  man  goes  about  among  his  fellow-men 
who  are  burdened  and  tried,  and,  because  he  is  a  "  plain, 
honest  speaker,"  decries  everything  that  is  weak,  everything 
that  is  morbid,  everything  that  he  can  find  that  is  evil,  and 
throws  out  his  denunciations  right  and  left,  up  and  down, 
and  when  remonstrated  with,  says,  "Oh,  well,  you  cannot 
expect  me,  a  plain-dealing  man,  to  do  otherwise  ;  I  am  not 
going  to  say  anything  that  I  do  not  believe" — when  a  man 
does  this,  he  violates  the  law  of  charity.  There  is  nothing  so 
blunt  as  a  bull ;  but  a  bull  is  not  usually  considered  to  be  a 


320  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 

good  thing  to  have  in  orphan  asylums  or  in  society  !  Men, 
however,  who  have  come  up  along  that  line  of  development, 
go  bellowing  and  horning  their  way  through  life,  and  justify 
their  action  bgcause  they  are  blunt,  honest,  plain-spoken  men. 
Such  persons  are  either  hypocrites,  or  else  they  are  working 
under  a  mistake  which  they  cannot  themselves  understand. 

Then  there  are  men  who  "hate  hypocrisy,"  and  who  are 
always  and  everywhere  looking  around  and  suspecting  people. 
If  a  man  is  spoken  of  as  good,  they  say,  "  Well,  let  me  know 
him  long  enough  and  I  will  show  you  that  he  is  not  as  good 
as  he  seems  to  be. "  If  a  man  does  a  generous  deed,  they  say, 
"  H'm  !  you  will  find  that  he  will  make  on  that."  If  a  man 
says  a  kindly  thing,  they  say,  "  Oh  !  yes,  his  tongue  runs  in 
oil — at  one  end."  So  there  are  a  great  many  men  who  lie 
lurking  and  watching  their  fellow-men.  They  hate  insincer- 
ity, and  anything  that  is  not  high-minded.  Like  leeches, 
they  suck  the  blood  of  every  man  that  they  come  in  contact 
with.  There  is  nobody  within  reach  of  their  tongue  who 
does  not  feel  it,  all  because  they  dislike  men  who  are  not 
good.  But  there  is  nobody  that  is  good.  Everybody  is  sick — 
everybody  is  lame — everybody  comes  short.  Symmetry  and 
continued  perfectness  do  not  belong  to  this  life.  We  are  all 
in  a  warfare,  working  and  struggling ;  and  the  chief  diffi- 
culty between  one  side  of  life  and  the  other  is  that  there 
is  a  large  body  of  men,  blessed  be  God,  who  are  striving  for 
an  ideal  which  is  set  before  them — who  are  not  perfect  men, 
but  who  are  men  seeking  after  perfection  ;  and  another 
large  body  of  men  who  do  not  even  seek  after  perfection. 
They  may  be  accidentally  good,  accidentally  virtuous  ;  but 
their  own  will  is  not  embarked  in  any  career  which  is  de- 
signed to  make  their  life  pure.  While  some  men  are  striving 
for  goodness,  others  are  leaving  themselves  to  the  fluctuations 
of  chance.  And  there  is  no  man,  high  or  low,  rich  or  poor, 
wise  or  foolish,  who,  if  you  apply  to  him  high  tests  of  judg- 
ment, can  stand  for  a  moment. 

There  is  another  thing  to  be  considered — namely,  that  as 
men  go  up  the  tests  become  more  critical,  and  more  difficult 
to  be  made.  If  you  measure  men  that  are  low,  charitableness 
requires  that  your  tests  shall  be  low  ;  and  if  you  measure  men 


UNJUST  JUDGMENTS.  321 

that  are  high,  justice  demands  that  your  tests  shall  corre- 
spond to  their  condition  ;  but  no  man  can  abide  the  measure 
of  God's  thought.  There  is  no  man  who  would  not  wither  if 
God  were  to  men  as  men  are  to  each  other. 

There  is  another  form  of  uncharitableness  which  in  some 
respects  is  harder  to  bear  than  any  other.  That  is  where 
criticism  is  put  into  the  form  of  wit.  Gold  and  silver  are  gold 
and  silver  whether  they  be  in  the  shape  of  coin  or  not ;  but 
when  they  are  in  the  shape  of  coin,  and  are  in  circulation, 
they  have  a  power  which  otherwise  they  would  not  have.  So 
our  judgment  is  the  same  whether  it  is  joined  to  wit  and 
humor  or  not ;  but  when  it  is  joined  to  wit  which  makes 
it  attractive,  and  which  excites  a  smile,  it  has  a  currency 
and  a  power  that  renders  it  a  great  deal  more  dangerous  than 
it  would  be  if  it  were  not  winged  with  this  quality.  Humor 
is,  however,  nearer  right  than  any  emotion  that  we  have. 
"Wit  may  be  very  dangerous,  but  humor  usually  tends  toward 
good-nature  ;  and  everything  that  tends  toward  good-nature 
in  this  world  tends  toward  grace.  You  may  find  kindly 
criticism  leagued  with  humor,  but  not  unjust  and  uncharita- 
ble judgments — they  seek  wit  as  their  ally.  Humor  is  the  at- 
mosphere in  which  grace  most  nourishes.  It  does  not  follow 
if  it  is  Summer,  that  there  are  going  to  be  flowers  ;  but  if 
there  are  going  to  be  flowers,  there  must  be  Summer  :  and  it 
does  not  follow,  if  there  is  humor,  that  there  are  going  to  be 
charitable  tendencies ;  but  if  there  are  charitable  tendencies 
there  must  be  good-nature  among  men.  Good-nature  I  value 
much  more  highly  than  I  do  many  of  the  so-called  Christian 
graces  ;  and  in  that  I  follow  my  Master. 

"  If  thou  bringest  thy  gift  to  the  altar  [if  thou  dost  go  into  the 
temple  and  perform  the  critical  and  characteristic!  work  of  worship- 
ing God,  which  is  the  test  of  all  temple  service],  and  there  remember- 
est  that  thy  brother  hath  aught  against  thee  [that  he  is  left  unhappy 
when  you  can  make  him  happy],  leave  there  thy  gift  before  the  altar, 
and  go  thy  way ;  first  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother,  and  then  come 
and  offer  thy  gift." 

God  can  wait ;  man  cannot.  God  dwells  in  eternity ; 
man  is  the  creature  of  an  hour.  Not  that  symbols  which 
typify  worship  are  bad  ;  but  when  it  comes  to  questions  of 
high  religious  experience,  it  is  more  important  for  a  man  to 


322  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 

take  care  of  his  brother's  feelings,  than  that  he  should  attend 
to  these  symbols.  In  other  words,  kindness,  good-nature  and 
social  amenity  precede  outward  observances.  Many  men  are 
seeking  God  so  assiduously  that  they  have  quite  forgotten 
their  fellow-oreatures.  They  are  so  high  above  them  that 
they  do  not  see  them  nor  remember  them.  To  be  so  near 
to  God  that  your  feet  just  touch  the  heads  of  men,  and  you 
walk  on  their  heads,  is  not  a  good  way  to  be  devout. 

This  disposition  of  uncharitable  judgment  is  a  fountain 
from  which  flows  continual  misconduct.  You  cannot  do 
your  duty  to  men  when  you  are  filled  with  this  as  a  prelim- 
inary disposition. 

There  are  certain  positive  commands,  one  of  which  is, 
"  Honor  all  men."  You  may  say  that  this  transcends  human 
power ;  there  are  cases  in  which  it  does  seem  as  though  we 
could  not  honor  men;  but  it  is  not  exactly  this  that  is 
meant.  The  spirit,  the  inward  disposition  and  intent, 
should  be  such  as  to  lead  us  to  desire  to  honor  all  men. 
You  are  to  treat  every  man  as  if  you  were  conscious  that 
he  was  made  of  God ;  as  if  you  felt  that  for  him  there  was 
a  kingdom  prepared ;  as  if  you  beheld  in  every  man,  as 
through  a  lens,  the  vast  expansion  of  his  nature  as  it  is  to  be. 
There  are  no  small  men.  Acorns  are  small  in  what  they  are, 
and  not  in  what  they  promise  to  be  when  they  shall  become 
acre-covering  century  oaks.  To  be  sure,  a  long  time  must 
elapse  before  the  acorn  becomes  the  oak ;  but  you  can  see  the 
one  in  looking  upon  the  other.  "  Honor  all  men."  The 
poorest  and  the  lowest  are  not  what  they  seem.  There  is  in 
the  essential  nature  of  every  single  human  creature  that 
which,  when  it  is  unfolded,  shall  shine  as  the  stars  in  the 
firmament.  All  exterior  buildings ;  all  temples  filled  with 
statues ;  all  works  of  mens'  hands ;  all  palaces ;  all  paint- 
ings ;  all  resplendent  works  of  art — these  things  are  not 
to  be  compared  with  those  hidden  and  invisible  powers  in 
the  human  soul  from  which  they  spring ;  and  outward  king- 
doms, visible  grandeurs  of  men,  the  multitudes  in  their 
external  existences,  bear  no  comparison  with  that  reach  of 
being  which  inheres  in  the  humblest  of  God's  creatures. 
There  is  not  a  pauper  that  is  driven  alone  to  his  grave  whose 


UNJUST  JUDGMENTS.  323 

soul  is  not  transcendently  more  important  in  the  sight  of  God 
than  the  dignity  of  the  crowned  monarch,  or  the  ruler  and 
magistrate  of  the  vastest  republic.  There  is  an  inherent 
grandeur  in  the  divinity  that  is  in  man  because  God  is  behind 
him  ;  and  he  is  what  he  is  by  virtue  of  the  things  of  which 
he  is  possible,  and  not  by  virtue  of  just  so  many  of  them  as 
he  has  attained  to.  The  wealth  of  the  mines  of  California 
is  not  to  be  counted  by  what  has  been  dug  out  of  them,  but 
by  the  undisclosed  treasures  which  lie  within  them.  A  man 
is  not  to  be  merely  what  he  has  made  himself  to  be — battered, 
hedged  in,  cabined,  beaten,  chiseled,  variously  abused. 

Men  are  like  seeds.  To-day  the  seeds  ripen,  and  to-morrow 
the  winds  take  them,  and  some  fall  behind  dark  walls,  and  are 
buried  and  rot  there ;  others  fall  in  half-lighted  places,  and 
there  sprout  and  wither ;  still  others  fall  in  some  favorable 
spot,  and  strike  down  the  root,  and  thrust  up  the  stem,  and 
gain  strength  and  nutriment  for  another  summer,  and  so  save 
themselves.  Men  are  born,  and  are  swept  through  the  world 
as  seeds  are  ;  but  not  they  that  have  good  soil  are  always  the 
ones  that  are  the  best  or  that  come  to  the  most.  There  is 
that  in  every  human  soul  which  you  cannot  measure,  and 
which  you  cannot  afford  to,  by  any  human  standard.  In 
going  forth  into  the  community  we  are  to  observe  this  law  of 
God  which  demands  that  we  shall  honor  his  creatures — that 
we  shall  "  honor  all  men,"  high  or  low  ;  and  it  is  not  possible 
for  any  man  to  do  this  and  at  the  same  time  carry  out  an 
uncharitable  spirit  by  which  he  is  all  the  time  probing  to  see 
if  there  is  matter  here  and  foulness  there ;  something  for 
ridicule  here,  and  something  for  unfavorable  criticism  and 
roport  there  ;  something  to  fill  the  chalice  whose  very  incense 
is  from  beneath  and  not  from  above. 

I  may  say  more  than  that :  there  is  never  one  who  forms 
uncharitable  judgments  and  carries  them  to  and  fro  unless 
there  is  a  market  for  them.  Ships  never  sail  unless  there  are 
ports  into  which  they  can  run.  If  your  ears  are  harbors  of 
tale-bearers'  tales,  then  you  and  they  are  joined  in  a  bad 
partnership  and  commerce. 

If,  in  society,  one  come  into  a  little  circle  with  uncult- 
ured and  rude  discourse,  discord  is  felt  in  that  whole  circle. 


324  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 

Every  one  is  pained  if  there  is  an  atrocious  sentiment  uttered, 
or  a  rude  spirit  made  manifest.  Men  rebound  from  these 
things.  They  create  disgust  in  society.  But  how  very  sel- 
dom hare  I  seen  a  circle  in  which  the  most  atrocious  violation 
of  the  fundamental  law  of  happiness  in  the  universe — that 
law  which  binds  God  and  all  his  creatures  alike  to  common 
obedience — the  great  law  of  sympathy  and  love — was  received 
with  reproof  and  distate  !  How  very  seldom  have  I  seen 
that  law  observed  in  a  gathering  even  of  half  a  dozen  persons  ! 
How  seldom  have  I  seen  a  circle  of  people,  however  small,  in 
whose  ears  tale-bearings  and  criticisms  were  discordant !  How 
little  are  we  trained  in  this  matter  so  that  these  things  jar  upon 
our  feelings,  are  as  gravel  in  our  mouth,  and  are  disallowed  by 
us  not  only  on  principle,  but  because  they  are  so  absolutely 
hateful  to  us  that  we  cannot  endure  them  !  We  call  ourselves 
civilized ;  and  yet  there  is  scarcely  a  house  where  there  is  not 
a  slaughter-pen  in  which  characters  are  slain.  Christians  of 
the  same  sect  may  not  slaughter  each  other ;  but  they  will 
slaughter  Christians  of  another  sect.  If  you  gather  together 
men  who  are  patriotic,  they  will  not  slaughter  their  own 
party,  but  they  will  slaughter  those  of  another  party.  So 
justice  is  almost  forgotten,  truth  is  scarcely  thought  of,  and 
men  rush  upon  men  as  wild  beasts  rush  upon  their  prey. 

It  is  apt  to  be  the  case  that  those  who  please  us  are 
thought  to  be  excellent  persons ;  and  it  is  thought  that  if 
they  do  not  please  us,  we  have  abundant  excuse  for  making 
known  all  their  faults.  Those  are  condemned  by  us  whose 
example  and  necessity  puts  us  to  disadvantage.  In  other 
words,  it  turns  out,  upon  such  an  analysis,  that  after  all  it 
is  ourselves  that  we  seek  to  please,  that  it  is  selfishness  that 
leads  to  charity  where  we  are  pleased,  and  selfishness  that 
leads  to  condemnation  where  we  are  displeased. 

This  spirit  of  uncharitableness  adds  to  the  irritations  and 
quarrelings  and  sufferings  of  life.  It  lays  upon  men  burdens 
heavy  to  be  borne.  It  fills  communities  with  poisonous  ele- 
ments, and  destroys  that  sympathy  and  cordiality  and  social 
enthusiasm  which  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  welfare  of 
society. 

Men  do  not  extract  the  real  happiness  which  exists  in 


UNJUST  JUDGMENTS.  325 

peace  by  the  exercise  of  that  love  which  binds  them  one  to 
another.  We  move  among  men  guardedly,  restrainedly, 
cautiously,  upon  calculation.  We  abandon  men  when  they 
cease  to  contribute  to  our  interest  or  enjoyment.  We  do  not 
seek  to  cultivate  that  genial  sympathy  which,  if  it  were  gen- 
eral, would  raise  up  in  the  community  the  power  to  make  its 
masses  happy.  How  little  is  this  sympathy  really  felt ! 
Men,  as  they  run,  throw  out  ichor,  not  sweetness.  And 
religion  itself,  by  raising  the  ideal  of  conscience,  by  giving 
the  standard  of  life  a  higher  intellectual  development,  by 
making  men  fastidious,  becomes  itself  a  matter  of  unchar- 
ifcableness,  an  author  of  unkindness ;  and  instead  of  binding 
up  men's  wounds  and  healing  them,  and  bringing  them  to- 
gether in  love,  it  separates  and  disintegrates  them,  and  arrays 
them  one  against  another. 

Therefore  it  is  that  you  find  in  the  writings  of  the  apos- 
tles so  much  spoken  about  peace ;  as  in  the  passage  which 
I  read  to  you  from  James,  where  the  wisdom  from  above  is 
described  as  pure,  gentle,  easy  to  be  entreated,  and  full  of 
good  fruits.  ;  .... 

Again,  men  are  not  qualified  to  form  just  judgments  of^ 
the  great  mass  of  their  fellow-men.  Indeed,  it  is  one  of  the 
most  difficult  of  things  to  form  an  accurate  judgment  of 
men.  The  judgments  which  parents  form  of  their  children 
come  more  nearly,  I  suppose,  to  the  right  kinds  of  judgment 
than  any  others ;  for  usually  these  are  formed  in  the  right 
spirit — namely,  the  spirit  of  helpfulness.  The  desire  to 
develop  men,  the  identification  of  one's  self  with  others,  a 
longing  to  see  in  them  the  things  which  shall  make  them 
more  beautiful,  more  noble,  more  strong — how  seldom  does 
this  parental  feeling  exist  outside  the  household !  How 
seldom  does  it  exist  even  in  friendships  !  In  friendships  how 
much  there  yet  remains  of  the  secular  and  the  sordid  !  He 
is  my  friend,  too  often,  who  plays  agreeably  on  me,  as  if  I 
were  an  instrument  of  music ;  and  if  I  play  agreeably  upon 
him,  the  equilibrium  is  maintained,  our  relation  being  one 
which  is  full  of  pleasure-producing  power  on  each  side  :  but 
how  seldom  is  friendship  founded  on  disinterested  love ! 
How  seldom  does  it  exist  except  on  the  basis  of  selfishness ! 


326  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 

How  seldom  does  it  lift  a  man  above  sordid  things,  and 
broaden  his  life,  and  inspire  in  him  that  fidelity  which  con- 
tinually exalts  him  and  makes  him  more  noble  ! 

To  form  judgments  of  men,  so  far  as  their  superficial 
qualities  are  concerned,  requires  but  little  ;  but  to  form  judg- 
ments of  their  character  and  disposition  is  one  of  the  most 
elaborate  and  difficult  things  possible.  And  if  true  judg- 
ment of  character  and  disposition  is  very  difficult,  to  form  a 
judgment  of  the  desert  of  character  and  disposition  in  men  is 
still  more  difficult ;  for  we  leave  out,  usually,  the  considera- 
tion of  circumstances  which  largely  determine  conduct  and 
which  should  qualify  praise  or  blame.  One  may  be  unjustly 
praised;  another  may  be  unjustly  condemned.  The  one 
that  is  condemned  may  have  put  forth  ten  fold  more  effort 
to  be  good  than  has  the  one  that  is  praised.  A  man  may  be 
so  happily  born,  so  equilibrated  in  every  organ,  so  healthy 
in  the  head,  and  in  the  heart,  and  in  the  lungs,  and  in  the 
stomach,  and  in  the  liver  (which  is  the  devil's  den) ;  a  man 
may  be  so  balanced,  and  may  be  reared  in  a  way  so  perfectly 
admirable,  that  it  is  not  possible  for  him  to  be  other  than 
good-natured ;  and  so  his  good-nature  flows  prattling  along 
as  a  brook  on  a  gentle  inclination  through  a  flowery  meadow, 
always  pleasantly  murmuring,  and  never  much  disturbed. 
Such  persons  are  praised,  and  praised,  and  praised.  They 
are  beautiful ;  but  they  deserve  very  little  praise,  because  they 
put  forth  no  effort.  It  does  not  require  a  great  strain  to  run 
down  hill. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  man  may  be  born  so  that  every 
nerve  in  his  body  is  continually  tempting  him  to  irritation ; 
and  he  may  be  thrown  under  circumstances  in  life  in  which 
his  hereditary  tendencies,  wherein  he  has  the  sins  of  his 
fathers  visited  upon  him,  are  all  quickened  and  fired ;  and 
under  such  circumstances,  he  may  bring  to  bear  great 
caution,  and  self-restraint,  with  tears,  and  prayers,  and  a 
thousand  resolutions,  and  attempt  to  control  the  fiery  steeds 
that  are  in  him ;  and  night  and  day,  as  God  is  his  witness, 
he  may  be  putting  forth  a  thousand  times  more  effort  than 
the  natural  good-natured  man ;  but  who  except  God  knows 
this  struggle,  and  metes  out  just  consideration  ?  Who  says 


UNJUST  JUDGMENTS.  327 

of  the  man  that  is  blamed  for  going  wrong,  and  mourns 
over  his  faults,  and  strives  to  correct  them,  "After  all,  he 
deserves  more  credit  than  I  do"  ?  For,  if  there  be  anything 
that  measures  praise  and  blame,  it  ought  to  be  the  amount 
of  moral  purpose  that  a  man  exhibits,  the  amount  of  pain  that 
he  undergoes,  and  the  amount  of  effort  that  he  puts  forth. 

Many  a  man  whom  we  call  bad,  and  who  is  bad  as  looked 
at  from  a  human  point  of  view ;  many  a  man  who  is  unbal- 
anced, who  is  unlovely,  and  who  is  forever  stumbling  into 
wrong  ways,  will  verify  as  between  himself  and  you  and  me, 
the  declaration  that  "the  last  shall  be  first." 

My  mother  helped  me  to  be  good-natured.  The  hands  of 
twenty  ancestors  are  let  down  to  lift  me  up  above  the  storm  ; 
and  twenty  ancestors  are,  with  fiery  fingers,  pulling  down 
some  other  men,  who,  although  they  strive  and  struggle  all 
the  while  manfully,  do  not  attain  half  the  quietude  that  I 
have.  And  they  are  better  men  than  I  am,  though  I  may  be 
honored,  and  they  blamed  ;  and  they  will  stand  higher  than  I 
in  the  other  world,  when  a  better  measure  and  a  better  esti- 
mate shall  be  given. 

Men  judge  each  other  by  qualities  in  themselves.  This, 
although  it  is  very  natural,  leads  to  very  imperfect  and  very 
injurious  results.  As  I  have  already  intimated,  persons  in 
perfect  health  are  very  unjust  to  persons  who  are  not  healthy. 
This  goes  a  great  ways. 

There  are  two  things  that  increase  with  me  as  I  grow 
older.  One  is  a  profound  sense  of  the  wickedness  and  sinful- 
ness  of  men,  and  the  other  is  a  profound  sense  that  charity 
and  pity  are  better  grounds  of  criticism  than  blame. 

There  are  hundreds  of  men  who  are  called  lazy.  Well,  if 
not  doing  anything  is  laziness,  they  are  lazy ;  and  if  that 
which  is  called  laziness  be  the  product  of  dissipation,  if  it  be 
the  result  of  addiction  to  violent  passions,  if  it  be  activity 
toward  animalism,  then  they  are  subjects  of  blame  ;  but  there 
are  thousands  of  men  who,  though  they  never  seem  to  work, 
are  not  idlers. 

I  saw  a  mill,  and  heard  it  talk  a  little.  There  were  two 
streams  running  to  a  confluence,  and  on  each  stood  a  mill. 
One  was  deep  and  abundant,  springing  from  the  mountain. 


328  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 

Another  was  from  a  neighboring  hill,  running  with  exiguous 
stream.  A  mere  rill  it  was.  From  it  the  water  trickled, 
trickled,  trickled,  upon  the  wheel,  which  waited  for  the 
bucket  to  get  full  before  it  turned,  slowly  and  with  reluctance. 
The  other,  broad  and  full,  poured  its  waters  abundantly  under 
the  other  wheel,  which  went  whirling  round  and  round  and 
round,  night  and  day,  and  grinding,  grinding,  grinding  the 
grists  that  were  brought  to  the  mill.  And  this  energetic, 
busy  mill  looked  out  gayly  from  its  dusty  window  down  at 
the  feeble  mill  on  the  sickly  stream,  and  cried  out,  "You  see 
how  I  work  :  if  you  would  do  as  I  do  you  would  have  grists 
enough  ! "  Yes,  if  that  mill  had  the  river  which  this  mill  has. 
Now,  a  man  who  has  a  flood  making  from  him  ;  a  man 
who  has  a  temperament  and  constitution  that  generates 
vitality  in  the  brain  and  stimulation  in  the  blood — such  a 
man  cannot  help  being  industrious.  Work  is  in  him.  He 
relieves  himself  by  work.  But  a  man  who  has  a  cold 
stomach,  and  cold  nerves,  and  but  very  little  blood,  and  not 
much  in  him — he  uses  up  all  that  he  has.  You  cannot  make 
a  fire  with  a  handful  of  shavings  such  as  you  can  make  with 
a  ton  of  coal ;  and  if  a  man  is  made  so  that  the  forces  in  him 
are  small,  and  are  not  long  continued,  he  may  not  be  in  one 
sense  a  worker,  but  he  is  not  lazy.  Thousands  of  men  are 
blamed  because  they  do  not  work.  People  say  to  them, 
"  "Why  do  you  not  work  ?  You  would  be  prosperous  if  you 
would  only  work."  "  What !  have  you  come  again  ?  I  told 
you  that  if  you  did  not  take  care  of  your  affairs  and  organize 
them  aright,  I  would  never  help  you  again,  and  I  won't." 
As  if  the  capacity  of  organizing  his  affairs  was  in  every  man ! 
As  if  the  power  of  generating  thoughts  and  arranging  them 
and  using  them  so  as  to  carry  one  through  the  competitions 
of  life,  was  the  gift  of  every  man!  As  if  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  men  were  not  born  without  the  ability  to  hold 
their  own  in  the  world!  The  worst  place  for  one  to  live,  I 
think,  is  among  Yankees,  where  versatility  of  talent  and 
method  and  system  are  required,  and  where  he  is  considered  to 
be  a  man  who  knows  how  to  get  up  before  he  goes  to  bed, 
and  to  work  forever  and  forever,  and  where  no  man  is  looked 
upon  as  so  low  as  a  poor  shiftless  "  shack."  I  had  almost 


UNJUST  JUDGMENTS.  329 

rather  be  in  an  Italian  dungeon  than  in  a  New  England  poor- 
house. 

That  which  is  true  in  this  matter  is  also  true  in  the  higher 
range.  We  often  judge  men's  right  and  wrong,  their  intel- 
ligence and  ignorance,  their  virtues  and  vices,  yea,  and  their 
crimes,  by  the  standard  which  applies  to  us ;  but  this  is  not 
fair.  If  a  man  be  a  savage  Indian  it  will  not  do  to  judge 
him  by  the  same  standard  of  peace  which  we  apply  to  our- 
selves in  our  own  neighborhood,  and  under  the  circum- 
stances in  which  we  were  brought  up.  If  you  are  by'  nature 
(that  is,  by  birth),  well-balanced,  inwardly ;  if  you  have  had 
a  good  parentage  ;  if  your  habits  have  been  well  looked  after ; 
if  you  have  been  properly  educated  and  trained ;  if  you  are 
surrounded  by  Conservative  influences;  if  you  have  a  busi- 
ness that  draws  out  all  the  mischievous  steam  that  would 
otherwise  inhere  in  you,  then  you  are  a  monster  if  you  take 
your  standard  of  morality  and  by  that  judge  of  those  who 
have  been  poorly  born,  wrongly  educated,  brought  up  under 
bad  influences.  For  you  to  judge  them  by  the  privileges 
and  immunities  which  you  have  had,  and  none  of  which  they 
have  had,  is  tyrannical  and  unchristian. 

Men  of  energetic  moral  temperaments  sit  in  judgment 
upon  men  of  totally  different  temperaments — for  there  is  a 
moral  temperament  as  there  is  a  mathematical  temperament, 
a  poetical  temperament,  an  artistic  temperament,  and  so  on. 
There  are  men  who  easily  do  good,  according  to  our  low  pat- 
tern, and  invent  ten  thousand  fancies  by  which  to  develop 
the  goodness  that  is  in  them.  There  is  a  genius  of  moral 
ideas.  And  on  the  other  hand  there  are  men  who  never 
develop  such  ideas,  and  to  whom  goodness  is  almost  as  hard 
as  to  me  are  the  higher  branches  of  mathematics,  and  as  to 
you  is  oratory  or  painting. 

So  it  is  that  men,  as  they  grow  better  themselves,  fre- 
quently grow  worse.  That  is,  they  take  that  in  themselves 
which  is  the  gift  of  God,  and  which  certainly  furnishes  an 
ideal  and  ought  to  be  a  great  help  to  them,  and  adminis- 
ter it  as  a  rigid  canon  of  criticism,  and  by  their  goodness  they 
condemn  thousands  who  have  not  the  same  temperament,  nor 
the  same  aptitudes  which  they  have. 


330  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 

More  and  more,  I  think,  men  have  yet  to  learn  a  new  doc- 
trine in  respect  to  the  power  of  will.  How  differently  men 
are  endowed  with  intellectual  fruitfulness  ;  with  susceptibility 
or  unsusceptibility ;  with  hope  and  courage,  or  fear  and  de- 
spondency. One  takes  his  peculiarity  and  sets  himself  up  in 
some  sense  as  a  model ;  or,  he  takes  that  ideal  for  which  he 
is  striving  and  turns  and  makes  it  a  measure  of  those  who 
are  other  than  himself.  Thus  that  which  is  good  in  him 
becomes  evil  in  its  effects  upon  others.  The  very  things  that 
in  him  are  the  best  become  the  authors  of  things  that  are  the 
worst. 

I  need  not  go  further  in  the  illustration  of  the  difficulty 
which  there  is  in  forming  an  absolute  conception  of  men  all 
around — of  their  merit  or  demerit — of  their  blame-  or  praise- 
worthiness.  I  have,  I  think,  already  shown  that  it  is  not  an 
easy  thing  if  a  man  undertakes  to  do  it.  It  requires  very 
great  forbearance  and  very  great  accuracy  in  the  laying  down 
of  canons  of  judgment — a  forbearance  and  an  accuracy  which 
few  men  possess.  The  thing  is  so  inherently  difficult,  and 
is  so  fraught  with  mischiefs,  that  no  man  has  a  right,  except 
he  be  a  parent  or  a  teacher,  to  judge  persons  as  worthy  of 
praise  or  blame  unless  he  is  under  the  influence  of  unques- 
tionable charity.  If  a  man  is  mad  it  is  absolutely  impossible 
for  him  to  rightly  judge  of  another.  If  a  man  is  actuated  by 
pride  or  envy  he  is  not  fit  to  judge  of  his  fellow-men.  Judi- 
cial power  over  men  is  given  to  nothing  in  a  man  except  the 
law  of  love.  It  is  only  under  the  administration  of  God's  love 
that  a  man's  conscience  can  take  the  humblest  place  in  the 
direction  of  judging  men. 

I  will  make  a  few  applications  which  I  have  not  made  as 
I  have  gone  along. 

First,  there  is  a  great  field  for  applying  this  to  the  rela- 
tions of  different  churches  with  each  other.  There  is  no 
church  that  cannot  find  endless  fault  with  another  if  it  sets 
about  it ;  for  there  are  endless,  boundless  faults  to  be  found. 
There  is  probably  no  denomination  that  has  stood  through 
many  generations,  in  which  some  truth  is  not  held  better 
than  in  any  other  denomination.  There  is  »o  denomination 
that  has  the  power  of  continued  existence,  which  does  not 


UNJUST  JUDGMENTS.  331 

carry  some  pure  gold  in  it.  There  is  something  in  all  sects, 
ancient,  mediaeval  and  modern,  which  gives  them  the"  right 
of  continued  existence. 

Now,  if  sects  set  themselves  over  against  each  other  as 
critical  judges,  there  is  no  end  to  the  faults  that  they  may 
find  ;  but  the  doing  this  destroys  that  Christian  charity  which 
will  draw  men  together.  It  separates  them. 

There  was  a  time  when  wickedness  was  well  nigh  universal ; 
and  at  that  time,  when  men  drew  themselves  out  from  wick- 
edness, they  separated  themselves  into  classes  of  the  good  ; 
and  it  has  come  to  pass  that  those  who  have  separated  them- 
selves into  classes  of  the  good  have  ever  since  been  separat- 
ing themselves  from  each  other,  until  the  church  on  earth 
represents  a  checker-board — for  there  are  almost  as  many  de- 
nominations as  there  are  squares  on  a  checker-board. 

Now,  there  is  no  harm  in  this,  provided  people  act  in  relig- 
ion as  they  do  in  the  household.  There  are,  we  will  say,  one 
hundred  families  on  Brooklyn  Heights  ;  and  if  these  families 
severally  take  care  of  themselves,  and  agree  to  act  kindly 
toward  one  another,  the  fact  of  such  a  population  in  so  many 
houses  is  not  mischievous.  Not  only  is  it  not  a  mischief,  but 
it  is  a  positive  benefit,  that  Christianity  has  taken  the  names 
of  many  denominations,  provided  they  do  not  arrogate 
authority  over  one  another,  and  sit  in  judgment  upon  each 
other,  and  provided  each  one  minds  its  own  affairs. 

But  the  times  tell  us  how  much  the  old  spirit  that  was  in 
men  still  lives  in  sects,  where  men  arrogate  the  right  to  judge, 
to  condemn  and  to  cast  out.  They  have  taken  the  attributes 
of  God,  and  they  are  exercising,  under  a  thousand  plausible 
names,  that  which  God  never  gave  man  a  right  to  exercise — 
vengeance.  "Vengeance  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord."  There 
is  no  partnership  throughout  the  universe  in  that  attribute. 

So  all  church  folks  are  apt  to  be  very  censorious  upon 
all  the  world  folks ;  and  I  observe  that  very  much  the 
same  thing  exists  in  churches  nowadays  that  existed  in  the 
time  of  the  Saviour  among  the  Jews.  It  was  almost  im- 
possible for  a  man  to  speak  of  the  gentiles  without  being 
answered  with  a  stone,  because  the  orthodox  Jews  felt  that 
Jews  were  the  final  end  of  creation,  and  that  God  had  con- 


332  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 

ducted  the  universe  down  to  that  age  for  the  sake  of  the 
cream — the  Jews.  It  was  considered  a  very  great  virtue  to 
be  a  Jew.  Those  outside  of  the  Jews  were  "  dogs  ;"  those 
outside  of  the  Greeks  were  "barbarians,"  and  those  outside 
of  the  church  to-day  are  "sinners."  There  are  no  sinners 
inside  of  the  church,  thank  God  ! 

The  spirit  that  exists  in  organized  Christianity,  looking 
out  upon  the  world,  is  not  far  different  from  that  spirit  which 
was  in  organized  pharisaism  during  the  time  of  the  Master — 
namely,  such  a  sense  of  the  peculiar  favor  of  God  toward  a 
select  class  as  rendered  men  substantially  unsympathetic  with 
the  outside  classes,  making  distinctions,  founded,  not  on  real 
excellence,  but  simply  on  the  feeling  that  they  are  nearest  to 
God,  and  that  the  others  are  furthest  from  him.  This  is  a 
most  dangerous  position  for  one  class  of  men  to  take  in  re- 
spect to  another  class  of  men. 

"When  a  man  says,  "  I  am  not  dishonest,"  he  does  not 
arrogate  anything  to  himself,  and  he  does  no  violence  to 
charity,  as  also  he  does  not  when  he  says  "  I  am  not  a  liar ;" 
but  it  is  certainly  a  dangerous  thing  for  any  body  of  men  as 
large  and  various  and  imperfect  as  the  visible  church,  to 
assume  that  they  are  perfect.  Filled  as  the  denominations 
are  with  men  who  are  very  low  in  the  scale  of  ethics,  and  who 
are  filled  with  arrogance  and  ambition  ;  split  up  as  they  are 
with  intestine  jealousies  and  envyings  and  quarrelings  and 
contentions  which  are  at  work  in  themselves  and  among 
themselves,  the  whole  church  visible  on  earth  to-day  is  like  a 
great  camp-ground  in  insurrection,  all  the  Protestant  bodies 
righting  against  Rome,  as  well  as  against  each  other ;  and 
the  national  churches  being  divided  up  among  themselves 
into  provincial  sects,  intellectual  sects,  esthetic  sects,  imag- 
inative sects,  etc. 

Now  is  that  a  state  of  humanity  out  of  which  we  can  look 
with  contempt  upon  the  great  outside  world  lying  around 
about  us?  And  yet  how  much  is  justified  on  the  ground  that 
we  are  members  of  churches,  and  that  others  are  not ;  that 
they  are  in  the  "  gall  of  bitterness  and  in  the  bond  of  iniquity" 
and  that  we  are  not  ?  You  say  that  you  are  better  than  cer- 
tain other  men  because  they  do  not  say  their  prayers  right. 


UNJUST  JUDGMENTS.  333 

It  does  not  matter,  if  they  say  them  with  as  little  profit  as  you 
do  yours.  "But  they  do  ijot  believe  in  the«  Trinity,"  you 
say.  It  is  better  that  they  should  not  than  that,  belie'ving  in 
it,  they  should  trample  it  under  foot.  "  But  they  do  not 
contribute  to  religious  institutions."  Well,  they  are  free 
before  God.  You  are  not  their  master. 

In  other  words,  we  are  not  in  the  slightest  degree  author- 
ized to  look  upon  men  who  are  outside  of  this  or  that  church 
organization,  and  sit  in  judgment  upon  them.  We  are  com- 
manded to  "judge  not."  The  elements  of  character,  the 
habits  of  living,  the  ethical  rules  of  conduct,  the  amenities 
of  life — these  are  not  so  preeminently  superior  in  church 
folks  that  they  can  afford  to  sit,  by  the  wholesale,  in  con- 
demnation upon  those  who  are  not  church  folks. 

The  same  kind  of  severe  judgment  has  been  improperly 
exercised  in  reference  to  magistrates,  rulers  and  public  men. 
I  hardly  ever  heard  a  sermon,  and  I  hardly  ever  read  an  arti- 
cle, outside  of  the  New  Testament,  advocating  respect  for 
men  because  they  were  magistrates,  or  because  they  were 
rulers.  In  the  New  Testament  the  command  is  that  we  shall 
regard  all  those  who  are  in  authority  as  servants  of  God, 
standing  not  for  what  they  are  themselves,  but  for  the  great 
ideal  which  God  had  in  appointing  them. 

In  our  land,  in  all  free  lands  where  men  have  the  right  of 
discussion,  the  currents  run  against  men  who  are  in  responsi- 
ble trusts  ;  and  there  are  a  thousand  reasons  for  it.  There 
are  many  reasons  why  those  who  are  on  the  bench,  for  in- 
stance, should  be  looked  after.  But  the  discussion  of  the 
characters  of  public  men  in  our  newspapers  may  largely  be 
considered  to  have  proceeded  not  upon  a  just  ground,  except 
now  and  then.  It  may  be  said  that  there  has  been  a  continual 
and  iterated  tendency  to  find  fault,  and  find  fault,  and  find 
fault  with  them.  It  is  desirable  that  those  who  are  entrusted 
with  power  should  be  watched,  and  that  their  fear  of  criticism 
should  never  cease  ;  it  is  desirable  that  such  men  should  be 
held  to  a  proper  accountability  ;  but  these  ends  are  defeated 
where  constant  fault-finding  at  length  destroys  all  discrimi- 
nation, and  the  impression  is  produced  that  of  course  a  public 
man  will  be  found  fault  with.  Thus  the  barriers  to  good 


334  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 

conduct  are  broken  down  ;  and  whether  it  be  in  churches, 
in  reformatory  conventions,  in  party  gatherings,  or  in  news- 
papers, there  is  £n  evil  to  be  exposed  and  corrected — namely, 
uncharitable  severity  in  the  judgment  which  is  pronounced 
upon  public  rulers. 

There  is  but  one  other  point  that  I  shall  make,  and  that 
is  the  putting  of  the  sins  of  the  whole  community  on  a  single 
individual  as  their  scapegoat.  It  was  an  easy  thing  for  the 
Israelites,  when  they  had  gone  on  sinning  and  sinning  and 
sinning  in  a  thousand  different  forms,  to  have  their  priest 
bring  up,  finally,  a  goat,  and  after  proper  services,  lay  his 
hands  on  him,  and  give  him  a  kick,  and  start  him  for  the 
wilderness,  and  say,  "Go,  goat,  and  take  the  sins  of  the 
people  off  with  you;"  it  was  a  cheap  deliverance;  and 
although  the  Levitical  enactments  are  done,  that  particular 
custom  remains  yet.  We  go  on  in  indulgent  habits  in  society, 
tempting  the  young,  making  the  road  to  the  gratification  of 
their  passions  and  appetites  more  and  more  attractive,  and 
conniving  at  evils  here  and  there  ;  and  under  our  influence 
the  young  man  goes  down  step  after  step,  until  at  last  he 
falls  so  low  that  he  is  taken  home  drunk,  and  his  place  is 
vacated  in  the  bank,  and  he  is  thrown  out  of  his  class  in  the 
Sunday-school  where  he  has  taught ;  and  then  all  good 
parents  hold  up  their  hands,  and  say,  "  My  child,  take  warn- 
ing !  take  warning !" 

Who  destroyed  him?  The  men  that  damn  him.  It  was 
their  lowness  of  custom,  their  example,  their  persuasions  to 
things  corrupting.  These  guileful  influences  led  him  to 
destruction  ;  and  the  indignation  of  the  community  breaks 
out,  and  is  visited  upon  him.  There  is  one  goat  running 
for  the  wilderness ! 

Everybody  winks  at  falsehoods.  Everybody  reports  little 
things,  saying,  "Well  I  do  not  vouch  for  the  truth  of  this; 
I  tell  it  just  as  it  was  told  to  me ;"  and  so  he  becomes  the 
devil's  mail-bag  for  lies.  Everybody  prepares  the  way  for 
wickedness  by  rewarding  it,  or  praising  it,  or  helping  it  in 
some  other  way,  looking  upon  it  without  rebuke ;  and  by 
and  by  there  comes  a  flagrant  falsehood,  born  out  of  the 
state  of  things  which  they  themselves  have  produced,  and 


UNJUST  JUDGMENTS.  335 

then  the  man  who  happens  to  be  the  special  guilty  object 
takes,  in  a  concentrated  form,  the  blame  that  should  dis- 
tributively  have  gone  through  the  whole  community. 

Now,  New  York  has  been,  to  my  personal  knowledge,  for 
at  least  twenty-seven  years  conducting  its  affairs  in  a  re- 
markable manner — or,  it  would  have  been  remarkable  if  it 
had  not  been  so  common.  It  was  understood  that  places  of 
trust  were  to  be  used  as  powers  and  influences ;  and  it  ceased 
to  be,  in  both  parties  or  in  either  party,  regarded  as  a  matter 
of  blame  worthiness  that  men  employed  their  offices  for  their 
personal  interests.  Men  had  been,  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration, acting  on  this  principle;  they  had  been  "on  the 
make,"  as  it  is  said  ;  they  had  been  accustomed  to  distribute 
among  themselves  profits  and  gains  which  belonged  to  the 
people.  Things  being  in  this  condition,  one  man,  whose 
abilities  enabled  him  to  do  it  on  a  larger  scale  than  his  pred- 
ecessors had  done  it,  administered  things  as  1  ;  found  them, 
in  a  new  direction;  and  being  caught,  and  tried,  and  con- 
victed, he  walks  on  Blackwell's  Island ;  and  all  New  York, 
that  prepared  the  road  which  he  trod,  dug  the  channel  in 
which  he  moved,  and  nourished  the  influences  which  led 
him  on,  is  now,  oh  how  happy,  to  think  that  at  last  justice 
has  had  its  way  !  No ;  if  justice  had  had  its  way  there 
would  have  been  five  hundred  thousand  men  there,  instead 
of  one  ! 

A  man  goes  to  Congress  in  the  interest  of  a  gre  at  public 
improvement.  He  finds  there  a  certain  morality  established 
in  regard  to  railroad  managements.  He  finds  them  affiliated 
with  legislative  management.  These  things  exist.  He  has 
not  created  them.  They  have  long  been  growing.  Nobody 
looks  on  them  with  disapproval.  So  men  avail  themselves  of 
the  opportunity  which  is  presented  for  self-aggrandizement. 
This  man  has  a  little  pinch,  and  that  man  has  a  little  pinch. 
Every  man  has  his  cup  or  bucket  which  he  fills.  So  matters 
go  on,  until  by-and-by  a  man  comes  along  who  has  a  larger 
brain  than  those  had  who  had  gone  before  him,  and  he 
administers  in  a  larger  way,  and  is  caught,  and  vomited  out 
of  Congress ;  and  by  the  artillery  of  committees  he  is  shot  to 
pieces,  and  all  through  the  land  everybody  is  astonished  that 


336  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 

such  a  thing  could  have  happened  !  Nobody  ever  heard 
of  such  a  miscreant ! 

Now,  you  are  the  alphabet,  and  he  was  the  word  spelled  ! 

So  it  is  that  every  once  in  ten  or  twenty  years  the  commu- 
nity wakes  up  to  an  extraordinary  sense  of  purity  and  virtue  ; 
and  the  victim  who  has  been  struck  by  their  lightnings  is 
considered  from  that  time  out  to  be  like  Judas  or  Arnold ; 
and  he  goes  carrying  the  accumulated  iniquity  of  generations 
to  the  day  of  his  death. 

Is  this  in  accordance  with  a  just,  righteous  judgment  ? 
Are  such  things  admirable  in  a  high  state  of  Christian  civil- 
ization ?  I  do  not  say  that  bad  men  are  not  bad,  because  they 
are  made  so  by  a  large  number  of  bad  men  behind  them — 
they  are  bad ;  but  this  I  do  say :  think  ye  that  they  upon 
whom  the  tower  of  Siloam  fell  were  sinners  above  all  those 
who  dwelt  in  Jerusalem  ?  I  tell  you,  Nay.  Except  you 
repent,  you  shall  likewise  perish.  If  you  condemn  the  re- 
presentative criminals,  remember  whom  they  represent.  If 
men  are  ministers  of  falsehood  and  of  peculation,  bear  in 
mind  that  a  stream  goes  no  higher  than  its  fountain.  In 
no  community  is  any  man  a  great  deal  better  or  a  great  deal 
worse  than  that  community.  It  is  laxity  of  conscience  and 
principle  among  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  that 
makes  it  possible,  here  and  there,  for  a  man  to  become  an 
eminent  sinner  in  the  ways  in  which  I  have  described  ;  and 
while  he  should  be  punished,  it  is  not  for  you  and  me,  with 
unveiled  faces,  radiant  with  an  indignant  triumph,  to  stand 
up  and  say,  ' '  How  God  hates  sinners ! "  It  is  for  us  to 
cover  our  faces,  and  to  say,  "  I  have  laid  a  stumbling  block 
in  my  brother's  way."  It  is  for  us  to  repent  and  to  reform 
in  our  own  places,  that  there  may  be  none  found  to  do  so 
any  more. 


UNJUST  JUDGMENTS.  33? 


PRAYER   BEFORE  THE  SERMOfr. 

WE  draw  near  to  thee  with  humble  confidence,  with  the  boldness 
of  love,  thou  that  hast  taught  us  all  things:  thou  that  hast  in  all 
things  sustained  us;  thou  that  hast  inspired  the  fathers  and  the 
mothers,  and  then  hast  taught  us  out  of  thy  experience  to  call  thee 
Father.  We  draw  near  to  thee  with  confidence  inspired  by  thine  own 
self;  by  every  word  which  thou  hast  uttered;  and  yet  more  by  all 
those  dealings  by  which  we  have  been  surrounded  of  thee.  For  thy 
ways  toward  us,  though  they  are  often  dark  and  inscrutable,  have 
been,  as  we  look  back  upon  them,  ways  of  mercy.  The  storms 
come  upon  us  come  with  bolts  and  purifying  lightnings ;  and  as  they 
go  away  from  us  we  see  the  bow  of  promise;  and  looking  back 
through  the  past,  we  see  that  thou  hast  never  dealt  unjustly  nor 
unkindly  with  us.  Thy  chastisements  have  been  merciful.  We  are 
witnesses  that  it  is  good  for  us  that  we  have  been  afflicted.  Thou 
hast  taught  ua  a  thousand  things  which  no  school  nor  teacher  other 
than  thyself  could  have  taught  us— not  the  knowledge  of  outward 
life,  not  the  knowledge  of  the  framework  of  the  universe,  but  unut- 
terable things  of  the  Spirit,  and  inward  experiences  which  live,  and 
prophesy,  and  reach  forth  into  a  higher  and  better  life.  As  the  out- 
ward man  perishes,  the  inward  man  is  renewed  day  by  day ;  so  that 
we  have  this  token  that  we  are  the  sons  of  God— not  that  thou  dost 
speak  to  us  from  Sinai ;  not  that  thou  dost  from  the  cleft  of  the  rock 
make  known  thy  power  even  with  the  still  small  voice;  but  that 
all  which  is  like  thee  is  growing  perpetually  In  the  silence  of  our  own 
consciousness.  We  know  that  we  are  coming  nearer  to  thee;  and 
though  we  are  not  able  to  discern,  though  we  cannot  bring  down 
into  human  thought  and  human  words  the  conception  of  God,  or 
that  brightness  which  vaguely  appears  to  our  vision  of  thee,  yet  we 
who  look  toward  the  East  know  that  the  morning  is  coming,  that 
the  light  is  advancing,  and  that  ere  long  the  sun  shall  pour  out  its 
fullness.  We  know,  O  Sun  of  righteousness,  that  thou  art  drawing 
nearer  to  us.  Already  we  feel  the  light,  we  perceive  the  quenching 
of  the  night  and  the  coming  of  the  day,  and  we  yearn  with  unutter- 
able desire  to  be  the  children  of  the  morning,  and  to  look  more  and 
more  into  that  light  which  when  once  it  hath  come  shall  nevei 
depart.  What  to  us  is  exaltation  which  carries  up  only  the  perish- 
able? What  to  us  is  humiliation  that  only  casts  down  that  which  ero 
long  must  go  to  dust  again  ?  What  ars  mercies  that  leave  us  pooi 
within?  and  what  are  troubles  that  enrich  us  within,  though  they 
beat  upon  us  outwardly  ? 

Grant  that  we  may  awake  to  a  full  realization  of  our  sonshlp  and 
of  the  blessedness  of  our  inheritance  in  Christ  Jesus.  Teach  us  to  put 
emphasis  upon  these  inward  and  nobler  things,  that  we  may  judge  of 
life  with  a  better  judgment,  and  live  higher  than  men  around  about 
us  are  able  to  live.  May  we  come  into  that  state  in  which  we  shall  be 
able  to  judge  from  higher  things  though  we  are  not  judged  by  things 
below  us. 

Grant,  O  Lord,  that  we  may  walk  humbly  with  God,  and  patiently 


338  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 

among  men,  and  be  filled  with  the  gentleness  that  is  of  Jesus  Christ. 
For  who  of  us  is  not  better  provided  for  than  He  was?  He  had  not 
where  to  lay  his  head.  All  that  dwelt  in  the  air,  and  on  the  earth,  and 
in  the  sea,  were  better  equipped  than  he ;  and  yet,  how  patiently,  how 
cheerfully,  he  accepted  his  lot!  and  how  he  diffused  happiness  all 
around  about  him !  And  as  he  came  where  there  were  sorrows  and 
tears  and  exchanged  them  for  shouts  of  gladness,  grant  that  we  may 
know  that  the  servant  is  not  better  than  his  Lord.  Upon  such  an  one 
as  he  came  judgment  and  condemnation ;  and  how  much  less  do  they 
come  upon  us  I  We  wear  his  yoke,  but  not  as  he  wore  it.  We  bear  a 
cross,  but  not  such  an  one  as  he  bore  for  our  sake.  What  to  us  are  the 
troubles  of  the  household,  troubles  in  business,  troubles  in  the  con- 
cernments of  society  ?  What  to  us  are  the  harrowing  vexations  that 
belong  to  life,  and  that  are  troubles  only  to  those  who  do  not  know 
how  to  subdue  them  ?  What  to  us  is  that  way  which  is  so  royal,  so 
full  of  hope,  and  so  full  of  testimonies  which  enkindle  courage  in  us? 
We  walk  no  strange  way.  We  make  no  experiments  in  the  darkness. 
It  is  the  way  which  the  prophets  trod.  It  is  the  way  which  the 
apostles  trod.  It  is  the  way  which  thrice  ten  thousand  martyrs  trod. 
The  whole  church  of  God  through  years  has  walked  therein,  until 
that  which  was  strait,  and  narrow,  and  difficult,  is  now  widened  by 
the  footsteps  of  those  who  have  beaten  it  down,  bleeding  thereon,  so 
that  we  walk  secure.  We  are  helped  forward  by  the  drawings, 
and  sympathies,  and  experiences,  and  knowledges  which  have  come 
from  those  pioneers  who  are  now  in  glory,  having  gone  before  to 
destroy  the  wilderness  and  make  it  fruitful.  The  way  of  the  Lord  is 
cast  up,  and  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  are  returning  and  coming  tp 
Zion  with  songs  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads.  We  walk 
among  them,  and  are  in  sympathy  with  thrm,  and  are  ashamed  when 
we  think  of  complaints,  and  repinings,  and  sorrowings,  and  all  that 
morbid  vanity  with  which  we  look  upon  men,  measuring  them  by 
ourselves,  and  ourselves  by  them.  Grant,  we  beseech  of  thee,  that 
we  may  look  unto  Jesus,  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  our  faith ;  who 
for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him  endured  the  cross,  despising  the 
shame,  and  is  set  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  G  od,  there 
to  intercede  for  us,  sending  forth  love  from  his  heart,  even  as  the  sun 
sends  forth  the  summer.  Grant  that,  looking  unto  him,  we  may,  in 
his  Spirit,  walk  and  wait  patiently  for  that  manhood  that  shall  be  in 
us  when  we  shall  see  thee  and  be  like  thee. 

Grant  to  every  one  who  is  fighting  a  battle  against  his  natural  dis- 
positions, and  is  seeking  to  humble  his  pride,  and  direct  his  feelings 
aright — grant  unto  every  such  one  thine  encouragement.  May  all 
who  strive  against  easily  besetting  sins  know  that  it  is  the  Spirit  that 
strives  in  them.  May  they  know  as  they  set  up  a  noly  war  in  their 
own  souls,  though  they  achieve  imperfect  results,  that  Jesus  is  their 
salvation — not  an  unfeeling  and  critical  judge,  but  he  that  for  them 
suffered  and  suffers,  now  bearing  their  burdens  and  carrying  their 
sins — he  who  is  to  them  as  the  father  to  tne  child.  Grant,  we  beseech 
of  thee,  that  they  may  take  courage  and  inspiration.  May  none  seek 
in  the  outer  courts,  and  in  the  wilderness,  to-day,  the  things  that  are 
needful.  Why  should  any  one  attempt  to  build  up  aione  in  himself 


UNJUST  JUDGMENTS.  339 

that  which  he  lacks,  since  God  is  his  Helper,  from  whom  come  all  the 
tides  of  sweet  influences  by  which  he  shall  be  helped  ?  May  there  be 
given  every  one  such  faith  of  God,  and  faith  so  enlarged  and  so  per- 
sonal to  himself,  that  he  shall  have  God  to  help  him  in  every  time 
of  need. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  thy  blessing  to  rest  upon  all  the 
households,  and  upon  all  the  souls  that  are  represented  here  to-day. 
May  those  who  have  come  in  hither  bearing  burdens  find  themselves 
relieved,  that  they  shall  seem  light  though  they  do  not  fall  off.  Grant 
that  we  may  desire  to  overcome  our  troubles  rather  than  to  have 
them  moved  out  of  the  way.  Give  us  that  manliness,  that  sturdy 
courage,  that  faith  of  God  and  of  the  character  which  we  are  fashion- 
ing for  the  eternal  life,  which  shall  make  us  superior  to  our  external 
circumstances.  So  may  we  evermore  measure  with  these  larger 
measures  which  have  been  handed  down  to  us  from  above— the 
golden  reed  of  the  sanctuary. 

Grant  to  those  who  have  come  in  with  thank-offerings  an  open 
vision  of  God;  and  may  they  bear  before  thee  the  gift  of  holy 
thoughts  and  of  pure  affections  for  all  thy  kindnesses  toward  them. 

To  such  as  have  feared  great  evils,  and  have  been  spared ;  to  such 
as  have  been  delivered  from  great  afflictions;  to  such  as  have  had 
brought  to  them  unexpectedly  tidings  of  great  mercies ;  to  such  as  have 
been  joined  together  after  long  separations ;  to  those  to  whom  the  door 
of  the  past  is  open  with  ten  thousand  memories  that  come  thronging 
upon  them— to  all  such  wilt  thou  give  grateful  hearts. 

We  beseech  of  thee  if  there  are  those  who  are  in  affliction— and 
there  are  many — that  they  may  know  how  to  smile  in  the  midst  of 
tears,  and  how  to  be  strong  in  weakness;  and  though  their  hearts 
still  ache,  may  they  know  how  to  bear  pain  for  Christ's  sake,  and  for 
their  own ;  and  may  they  rejoice  that  they  are  identified  with  Christ, 
so  that  no  trouble  overtakes  them  that  it  does  not  come  to  his  knowl- 
edge. And  in  the  house,  at  the  table,  beside  the  cradle,  in  all  familiar 
associations,  wherever  they  walk,  may  they  find  walking  by  their 
side  the  Saviour  of  sympathy  and  of  consolation.  May  those  who 
have  been  surprised  and  cast  down  as  trees  by  the  overwhelming 
tempest  be  even  as  the  trees  that,  though  they  be  uprooted,  know 
how  still  to  cling  to  the  soil,  and  how  to  go  on  bearing  some  leaves 
and  some  fruit  as  best  they  may.  And  grant  that  those  who  are 
utterly  cast  down  may  be  able  to  say,  Cast  down  but  not  destroyed ! 
Lift  thou  upon  them,  we  beseech  of  thee,  the  light  of  thy  counte- 
nance ;  and  above  everything  else,  may  they  have  a  sense  that  this 
world  is  but  for  an  hour,  and  that  life  itself  is  only  a  dremn ;  and  may 
they  wait  for  their  awaking. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  thy  blessing  to  rest  upon  parents. 
May  they  more  and  more  value  the  wisdom  which  comes  from  above 
in  the  rearing  of  their  children ;  and  may  their  children  be  blessed. 
Grant  that  they  may  grow  up  fearing  God  and  serving  him  better 
than  we  have  done.  May  all  the  efforts  which  are  made  to  educate 
the  y>>ung  in  our  midst  be  blessed.  Bless  abundantly  all  the  efforts 
in  our  scnools  and  in  our  classes  for  imparting  a  knowledge  of  God 
through  the  Scriptures.  And  may  those  who  go  forth  to  teach  be 


340  UNJUST  JUDGMENTS. 

themselves  more  and  more  taught  of  God.  May  they  find  the  divine 
life  growing  in  them  as  they  imitate  the  divine  action. 

We  pray  that  thy  blessing  may  rest  upon  all  the  churches  of  this 
city,  and  upon  all  the  churches  of  our  land.  May  they  be  more  and 
more  strengthened.  May  their  foundations  be  more  and  more  estab- 
lished in  truth,  in  justice,  in  love,  in  purity,  and  in  fidelity.  We 
beseech  of  thee  that  they  may  no  longer  vex  each  other.  May  every 
one  pursue  its  own  work,  and  seek  the  things  which  make  for  peace, 
and  not  the  things  which  make  for  division. 

May  the  light  that  has  come  to  us  of  the  truth  of  God,  and  that 
is  struggling  with  the  darkness  of  other  lands,  have  given  to  it 
power  and  victory.  May  ignorance  flee  away,  may  superstition 
disappear,  and  may  all  nations  come  to  their  liberty  by  coming 
to  intelligence  and  true  fidelity.  And  so  may  the  earth  be  regene- 
rated. So  may  the  day  of  prediction  come  when  Christ  shall  reign  a 
thousand  years. 

And  to  thy  name,  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  shall  be  the  praise 
for  ever  and  ever.  Amen. 


THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD  WORK. 


"  And  I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven  saying  unto  me,  Write,  Bless- 
ed are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord  from  henceforth :  yea,  saith 
the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their  labors ;  and  their  works  do 
follow  them."— REV.  xiv.  13. 


This  is  a  benediction :  it  is  a  benediction,  too,  falling 
where  we  are  accustomed  to  look  for  anything  else  but 
felicitation.  Waste,  decay,  death,  are  words  which  usually 
bring  only  the  most  gloomy  associations;  but  in  the  New 
Testament,  more  and  more  as  it  goes  on  toward  its  consum- 
mation, the  brightest  words,  the  strongest  tokens  of  joy  and 
of  triumph,  overhang  these  desolate  places ;  and  where  men 
have  been  accustomed  to  set  Fear  as  a  sentinel,  to  wet  the 
place  with  tears,  there,  in  Christianity,  we  see  banners  set 
up  for  victory ;  and  we  see  all  cheer  and  all  comfort  pred- 
icated of  that  which  has  been  the  world's  dread  and  the 
world's  curse. 

This  is  a  kind  of  parallel  to  the  passage  which  I  read  in 
the  opening  service — namely,  the  Beatitudes,  'he  benedictions 
that  Christ  pronounced  ;  for  when  he  taught  his  disciples  the 
blessings  of  poverty  and  meekness,  of  persecution  and  trouble, 
he  falsified  all  th<  prejudices,  and  ran  counter  to  almost 
all  the  sympathies  and  antipathies,  of  mankind.  But  the 
New  Testament  teachers  are  always  working  in  two  worlds — 
the  visible  and  the  invisible  ;  and  their  standpoint  is  always 
in  the  great  invisible  spirit  world.  Their  thought  rests 
upon  the  ripe  man,  the  consummated  character,  the  life 
that  is  without  death.  And  so,  while  they  are  perpetually 

STTNDAY  MORNING,  June  21,  1874.     LESSON*:  Matt.  v.  '-16.     HYMNS  (Plymouth 
Collection) :  Nus.  190,  604.  907. 


344  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD  WORK. 

recognizing  things  that  are  present  to  the  senses,  they  are 
forever  judging  of  them,  of  their  courses,  of  their  issues  or 
results,  by  standards  that  lie  above  and  beyond  the  senses ; 
and  that  which  is  contradictory  when  it  is  only  construed  by 
the  laws  of  time  and  the  world  will  have  a  new  meaning  and 
a  new  relation  when  it  is  construed  according  to  the  higher 
tests  and  facts  of  the  spiritual  and  eternal  world. 

It  is  declared  that  those  who  die  in  the  Lord,  in  the  spirit 
of  Christ  and  in  the  hope  of  Christ,  rest  from  their  labors. 
And  yet,  activity  is  very  pleasant.  There  is  much  that  irra- 
diates life  in  enterprise,  in  planning,  in  energetic  execution  ; 
and  when  one  is  in  health  and  strength,  even  endurance 
becomes  a  manly  pleasure,  and  men  look  back  upon  the 
things  which  they  have  suffered,  frequently,  with  a  conscious 
gratulation.  But  in  all  work,  in  this  world,  there  is  the 
friction,  there  are  the  perplexities,  there  are  the  emery  par- 
ticles of  care,  there  is  the  imperfect  result,  there  is  the 
mistake,  there  is  the  sin,  there  are  a  thousand  hindrances. 
We  are  working  with  men  who  are  imperfectly  sanctified, 
and  we  are  ourselves  their  unsanctified  companions.  We  are 
in  every  way  working  in  such  a  manner  that  the  braver  and 
more  aspiring  a  man  is,  the  more  does  he  feel  the  checks,  the 
hindrances,  and  the  imperfections  of  his  labor. 

Now,  " blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord;"  for 
they  rest  from  that  part  of  their  labor  which  is  time-worn, 
and  which  is  imperfect  from  want  of  knowledge,  or  from 
stress  of  temptation  or  of  passion. 

It  would  be  blessed  if  men  could  work  all  their  lives  long 
toward  right  ends,  in  harmonious  relations,  having  nothing 
but  the  natural  outplay  of  spirit  which  requires  sleep  and 
waking  again.  That  which  makes  life  burdensome  in  its 
labors  is  not  labor,  in  one  particular  acceptation  of  the  term. 
The  incidental  elements  of  labor,  its  imperfections,  are  what 
make  life  burdensome.  Often,  what  a  man  does  not  do  is 
heavier  than  what  he  does  do.  Often,  the  things  which  are 
but  incidental  to  us  are  much  more  influential  upon  our 
spirits  than  the  main  things  on  which  our  life  is  spent. 
And  we  shall  rest  from  all  this  part  of  life  in  dying,  or  in 
the  great  transition.  It  is  blessed  to  live  j  but  it  will  be  yet 


THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD   WORK.  345 

more  blessed,  having  lived  well,  to  die — and  for  this  reason  : 
that  our  works  follow  us. 

We  regard  it  as  strange  when  energetic  and  useful  men 
are  cut  off.  Men  cling  to  their  work  by  that  very  force  which 
enables  them  to  be  useful.  We  could  not  be  what  we  are 
appointed  to  be  in  this  life  if  we  were  so  indifferent  to  our 
tasks  and  responsibilities  that  we  could  let  go  easily  ;  and  this 
very  tenacity,  this  very  life-adhesion,  becomes  at  last  a  hin- 
drance. So  long  as  we  are  bound  to  this  life,  we  are  bound 
to  be  interested  in  the  things  of  this  life  ;  and  men  cling  to 
their  work  as  if  that  were  nature,  when  it  is  nature  in  tran- 
situ,  or  when  it  is  nature  partial,  or  relative  to  one  particular 
period  of  our  age  ;  and  when  persons  are  taken  out  of  life  in 
the  midst  of  strength  and  function,  men  marvel.  They 
cannot  understand  why  those  who  are  useful  should  be  re- 
moved. They  look  upon  such  as  have  gone  in  the  prime  of 
life,  in  mid-age,  or  young  in  years,  with  a  kind  of  strange- 
ness ;  and  they  wonder  and  talk  of  a  mysterious  provi- 
dence, and  ask,  "What  will  become  of  their  work?  Who 
shall  stand  up  in  that  household  ?  What  captain  shall  lead 
that  band  ?" 

But  do  you  forget  that  dying  makes  but  very  little  void 
in  this  world  ?  Indeed,  after  Christ  died  he  lived  more  effi- 
caciously than  when  he  was  alive.  The  death  of  the  apostle 
stopped  nothing,  but  sped  much.  No  age  was  ever  left 
without  men.  We  are  poor  in  our  conception,  but  God  is 
rich.  He  that  could  raise  up  seed  to  Abraham  from  the  very 
stones  need  not  look  about  much,  nor  mourn  that  men,  one 
and  another,  drop  out  from  the  functions  of  life ;  yet  it  is 
natural  that  we  should  think  so.  They  who  have  the  respon- 
sibility, they  who  supervise  the  labor,  they  who  must  replace 
the  men  that  are  gone,  think  it  strange  that  those  who  are 
well-equipped,  and  of  the  right  spirit,  should  be  taken  out  of 
life. 

But  the  consideration  of  triumph  is  that  men  do  not  cease 
their  work.  They  never  die.  The  irksome  part  of  their 
labor  they  rest  from ;  but  their  works  go  after,  go  on  with, 
or  have  gone  before  them.  A  man's  life  is  not  simply  what 
you  see.  The  effects  of  a  man's  life  are  not  simply  tho*« 


34G  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD   WORK. 

fchiugs  which  you  can  count,  measure,  or  describe.  He  who 
lives  in  earnest,  striving  to  follow  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or 
in  the  spirit  of  Christ,  throws  into  life  elements  which  never 
die  out  even  here — elements  that  are  not  witnesses;  that 
have  no  report;  that  come  not  with  observation;  that  are 
immeasurable ;  but  that  are  more  real,  a  thousand  times, 
than  the  things  which  are  visible. 

A  man  may  build  his  mansion  ;  he  may  be  able  and  will- 
ing to  expend  uncounted  sums  in  rearing  up  its  walls  of 
marble,  and  in  storing  it  with  every  element  of  beauty  within  ; 
and  yet,  dying,  he  may  have  done  but  very  little ;  while 
over  the  way  was  a  man  who  never  built  a  house,  except  the 
airy  house  of  character.  The  invisible  precious-stones  that 
are  laid  in  the  walls  of  the  New  Jerusalem  he  laid  around 
about  his  own  character.  He  left  little  save  influence  ;  but 
that  influence,  day  by  day  exerted,  fell  into  sensitive  souls, 
and  shaped  this  disposition,  moulded  that  one,  directed  the 
course  of  life  in  another  one,  and  revealed  the  truth  to  still 
another  one. 

A  good  man's  heart  is  a  seed-sower ;  and  his  disposition, 
not  according  to  his  own  intent  and  purpose,  but  simply 
according  to  that  nature  which  God  has  given  to  goodness  in 
men — the  power  of  goodness — is  perpetually  throwing  itself 
out,  and  out,  and  out. 

The  air,  as  botanists  now  know,  is  full  of  invisible  seeds. 
Fungous  plants — those  minute  mildews  which  settle  on  vege- 
tation— are  as  well  organized  as  if  they  were  dahlias  or 
tulips.  They  are  small,  almost  inconspicuous,  frequently 
mischievous,  in  one  sense — the  economic ;  nevertheless,  they 
are  beautiful  and  perfect  organizations;  and  how  fruitful 
they  are !  "We  cannot  even  see  the  spores  in  which  they 
carry  their  seeds ;  but  they  are  filling  the  air  with  myriads 
and  myriads  and  myriads  of  invisible  germs. 

And  that  which  is  true  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  in  its 
lower  form  is  true  also  of  men's  souls,  that  are  carrying 
seeds  innumerable,  of  thoughts,  suggestions,  and  feelings  and 
qualities,  which  fill  the  air ;  and  because  we  cannot  see  them, 
nor  tell  where  they  rise,  nor  trace  their  effects  back  to  their 
causes,  men  ignore  them,  or  are  unconscious  of  them ;  but 


THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD   WORK.  347 

the  simple  being  good  is  itself  a  power  to  which  there  is  no 
physical  or  revelatory  power  that  cau  be  compared.  Uncon- 
scious quality  is  far  more  influential  than  voluntary  inven- 
tions and  organizations. 

What  is  it  that  children  remember  in  the  parent — in  the 
devoted  mother  ?  To  be  sure  they  remember  the  twilight  hour 
of  inspiration ;  to  be  sure  they  remember  the  reading  of  the 
book  ;  to  be  sure  they  remember  the  restraints  of  the  Sab- 
bath day  ;  to  be  sure  they  remember  the  special  care  and  the 
great  kindness  :  nevertheless,  the  main  thing  which  hovers  in 
our  memory  of  our  parents  is  their  mind-quality, — not  that 
which  specifies  and  analyses  truth  in  this  and  that  realm  of 
knowledge,  but  that  which  hangs  in  our  memory  as  clouds  in 
the  sky.  The  air  seems  to  be  filled  with  their  patience,  and 
gentleness,  and  goodness,  and  self-sacrifice  for  others.  It  is 
not  by  single  actions  that  they  impressed  us  so  much  as  by 
the  diffused  influence  of  their  inward  life  and  nature.  This 
rests  in  the  memory  as  nothing  else  does. 

And  that  which  we  recognize  as  time  of  the  parent  in  the 
family  is  true  of  men  everywhere.  The  humblest  man,  the 
man  who  is  poked  away  in  the  corner  of  a  shop,  and  who 
does  not  see  twenty  men  in  a  week,  but  who  is  all  the  time 
producing  on  those  whom  he  does  see  the  impression  of 
fidelity  and  patience  and  gentleness,  is  not  a  public  instructor, 
but  is  a  public  actor  ;  and  he  is  not  to  be  limited  in  the  power 
of  his  life  to  the  things  which  his  hands  are  doing,  nor  even 
to  the  things  which  he  wills  to  do,  but  to  the  unconscious 
power  that  streams  out  from  fidelity,  and  patience,  and  gen- 
tleness in  him.  The  unconscious  influence  of  those  qualities 
in  him  transcends  in  volume  almost  all  the  force  of  these 
physical  things. 

Your  patience  in  your  conditions  of  life,  your  yearnings 
and  longings  after  something  better,  your  very  deficiencies, 
in  the  way  that  you  treat  them,  are  so  many  powers  in  you  ; 
and  they  do  not  stop  when  you  stop.  They  sow  themselves. 
As  the  vegetable  kingdom  perpetuates  itself,  by  this  summer 
ripening  seeds  for  the  next  summer,  so  men  have  a  kind  of 
transfused  existence  in  the  generation  that  follows  them  ;  and 
we  live  in  our  children,  and  in  their  children,  and  in  their 


348  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD   WORK. 

children.  We  live  in  ot^4  Neighbors,  and  in  their  neighbors, 
and  in  their  neighbors, 

As  when  you  thro'tf  pebbles  into  water,  the  lines  which 
they  make  go  ^D  widening,  and  following  each  other  in  end- 
less succession,  Vj  in  life  the  circles  of  things  are  diffused  and 
widened;  and  though  you  die,  your  works  follow  on,  and 
keep  working.  Your  nature  is  not  gone  :  it  is  transplanted 
into  others. 

When  the  first  Ehode  Island  Greening  was  found  to  be  so 
rare  and  beautiful  an  apple,  men  took  grafts  from  the  tree, 
and  now  there  are  Rhode  Island  Greenings  in  almost  every 
well-ordered  orchard  on  the  continent ;  and  they  all  came 
from  this  original  tree,  little  slips  being  taken  from  it  and 
grafted  into  one  tree  of  another  kind,  and  another,  and  an- 
other, until  this  variety,  after  many  generations,  has  become 
one  of  the  most  widespread  that  is  known  in  this  land.  And 
who  can  tell  what  baskets  and  bins  of  luscious  apples  shall  be 
gathered  in  the  years  and  years  which  are  to  come  as  the  fruit 
of  that  one  seedling  tree  ? 

One  noble  man,  one  noble  woman,  one  person  who  has  the 
quality  of  fruit,  may  graft  it,  by  unconscious  influence,  upon 
some  other  person,  and  that  other  person  upon  others, 
and  so  on.  Thus  your  courage  may  be  reverberating  for 
years,  and  your  aspiration  may  be  gleaming  and  glancing 
again  in  endless  continued  reflections,  after  you  are  gone. 
Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  Christ  (if  they  have  lived  in 
Christ  before  they  died),  for  their  works  follow  them. 

This  quality  of  unconsciousness  has  often  very  affecting 
instances  in  it.  When  the  then  reigning  king  of  Germany  was 
overthrown  by  Napoleon,  and  his  kingdom  was  trodden  under 
foot  by  that  behemoth,  and  the  people  were  almost  exter- 
minated, his  queen  Louisa  so  bore  the  sorrows  of  her  people 
that  her  own  life  broke  down  under  it ;  and  she  rested.  And 
the  great  Rauch  carved  her  in  marble  ;  and  in  the  environs  of 
Berlin  you  may  pass  through  a  twilight  grove,  and  enter  a  lit- 
tle sequestered  temple,  and  through  an  ante-chamber  with 
windows  of  glass  that  sheds  down  a  blue  light  and  gives  an 
unworldly  atmosphere,  you  shall  pass  into  a  recess  where 
pure  light  comes  through  an  unstained  window,  and  where 


THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD  WORK.  349 

you  seem  almost  to  have  entered  the  other  life ;  and  there 
lying  is  the  monument  of  marble  in  which  she  is  represented 
as  at  last  having  found  rest.  There  is  such  an  indescribable 
sweetness  in  her  face,  there  is  such  a  triumph  of  peace  on  it, 
that  no  man  who  ever  looked  upon  it  could  have  done  it,  I 
think,  without  wet  eyes ;  and  no  man  that  ever  saw  it  will 
forget  it. 

I  brought  home  an  engraving  which  has  happily  trans- 
ferred the  spirit  of  the  original  to  paper,  and  have  it  hanging 
in  my  study ;  and  through  troubles  and  sorrows  that  dead 
queen's  marble  has  sent  out  such  cheer  and  such  sweetness  of 
peace  that  I  can  scarcely  think  of  her  or  hear  her  name  with- 
out reverence  and  adoration.  She  never  spoke  a  word  nor  sent 
a  message  ;  she  did  not  even  make  her  own  statue ;  but  the 
sculptor  cut  it  from  her  life  and  gave  to  it  the  expression  of 
peace  ;  and  that  peace,  through  night  and  darkness,  through 
storms  and  battles,  through  revolutions  and  wars,  has  come 
down  to  us ;  and  I  am  a  witness,  for  one,  as  hundreds  of 
others  might  be  also,  that  it  has  been  a  strength  to  my  life, 
and  the  joy  of  many  a  turbid  hour. 

Now,  that  which  marble  can  do,  how  much  more  can  the 
living  soul  or  the  living  face  do  ?  The  peace  of  God  that 
passeth  all  understanding  does  not  alone  come  to  us  directly 
from  the  bosom  of  God :  it  comes  to  us  by  reflection  from 
many  a  venerable  father's  face ;  from  the  face  of  many  a 
mother,  serene,  just,  and  all-loving ;  from  the  face  of  many 
a  faithful  friend.  They  who  live  sequestered,  and  do  nothing 
but  shine,  may  think  themselves  useless ;  but,  dying,  they 
sow  more  seeds  than  twenty  generations  can  reap — and  not 
the  less  because  those  seeds  are  invisible. 

But,  also,  the  formative  work,  aside  from  the  uncon- 
scious— that  which  we  plan,  purpose,  and  execute — remains, 
or  may  remain  after  we  are  gone.  All  that  which  men  put 
forth  in  the  work  of  education,  the  repression  that  parents 
exercise,  the  self-denial  which  they  teach  their  children,  the 
ideas  and  habits  which  they  graft  into  them,  the  whole 
sphere  of  the  household  work,  deliberate  and  intentional 
— this  abides.  The  father  and  the  mother  die ;  but  the 
of  children  go  forth  ;  and  the  first  instinct  of  those 


350  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD   WORK. 

who  are  grown  up,  and  have  themselves  "become  parents,  is 
to  reproduce  upon  their  children  that  which  they  remem- 
ber gratefully  of  their  own  parents'  discipline.  And  so, 
wise  parents  transmit  their  habits  of  training  by  their 
children  down  through  many  generations.  They  may  be  for- 
gotten in  the  succession,  but  their  work  is  going  on.  And 
we  are  ourselves  what  we  are  by  reason  of  those  who  were 
our  ancestors  in  Europe  or  on  this  continent.  Many  and 
many  a  sturdy  old  Puritan  father  or  mother  is  forgotten, 
from  whose  loins  we  sprung ;  and  we  are,  to-day,  what  we  are, 
in  that  which  is  good  and  noble,  through  their  influence. 

We  cannot  tell  what  our  children  inherit  from  us.  Some- 
thing of  bad,  doubtless,  and  much  of  good,  doubtless ;  but 
how  much  we  are  doing  we  shall  not  know  until  we  see  it  in 
the  other  life.  Our  direct  influence  upon  souls  around  about 
us  is  of  a  kind  which  we  cannot  measure  now.  We  often 
think  that  those  who  respond  to  our  suggestions,  and  are 
visibly  modified  by  us,  show  efficient  work ;  but  many  and 
many  a  tough  nature  does  not  respond  easily,  and  yet  the 
work  is  none  the  less  real.  The  seed  does  not  always  come 
up  when  you  sow  it.  Some  seed  does  not  grow  the  same 
season  that  it  is  planted.  Some  seed  needs  to  be  cracked  by 
the  winter's  cold  and  frost.  Some  seeds  lie  in  the  ground 
two  or  more  years  before  they  come  up.  Seeds  may  be  buried 
a  thousand  years,  and  then  come  up.  There  are  many  na- 
tures that  do  not  take  on  influence  easily.  It  lies  in  them 
until,  by  and  by,  storms  or  troubles  bring  it  forth. 

There  are  now  before  me,  I  do  not  doubt,  multitudes  of 
men  and  women  who  can  testify  that  God  has  blessed  to 
them  the  labor  of  some  parent,  some  pastor,  some  class- 
leader,  some  obscure  and  humble  friend,  working  by  their 
side,  on  the  farm,  or  in  the  shop,  long  after  the  benefactor 
had  gone.  You  can  look  back  and  say,  "  I  see  the  tenden- 
cies that  he  planted  in  me,  and  that  now  have  brought  forth 
fruit  in  me  to  the  honor  of  God,  and  to  my  soul's  regenera- 
tion. I  can  see  that  this  work  was  begun  by  him  in  such 
and  such  a  manner ;  and  he  died  and  knew  not  what  he  had 
done ;  but  I  am  to-day  what  I  am,  in  part,  through  the 
blessing  of  God,  by  that  person's  fidelity."  I  can  trace  not  a 


THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD   WORK.  351 

few  in  the  long  past  who  left  their  impression  upon  me. 
They  never  knew  it  until  they  rose  to  heaven.  It  may  be 
given  to  us  there  to  see  what  we  have  really  been  about  in 
life.  Somewhere,  at  some  time,  all  good  work  will  avail.  It 
is  not  lost. 

This  after-work  is  signally"  manifest  in  those  who  have 
founded  and  conducted  institutions,  which  are  artificial  per- 
sons, as  it  were,  raised  up  to  perpetuate  certain  influences  or 
certain  functions.  Schools,  academies,  universities — these  are 
organizations  of  beneficence ;  and  one  man  may,  by  wise 
method,  arrangement  and  benefaction,  mix  himself  in  such  a 
way  with  all  the  noblest  of  generations  which  are  yet  to 
come,  that  his  heart-beat  will  be  felt  in  the  world  for  a  thou- 
sand years. 

When  the  early  fathers  got  together  in  their  poverty  to  found 
Yale  and  Harvard  and  Princeton,  do  you  think  they  knew 
what  a  band  of  men — what  lawyers,  what  judges,  what  min- 
isters, what  civilians  of  every  kind,  what  noble  citizens  and 
patriots — they  were  standing,  if  not  fathers,  yet  godfathers 
to  ?  And  all  that  comes  from  these  fountains  which  they 
opened  is  part  and  parcel  of  their  life.  So  they  are  not  dead. 

There  was  a  time  when  Wolsey  controlled  the  great 
kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  and  substantially  managed  the 
king  and  his  courtiers ;  and  his  influence  was  felt  far  and 
wide  ;  and  in  the  height  of  his  power,  almost  as  a  recreation, 
he  founded  Cardinal  College,  after  his  fall  named  Christ 
College,  in  Oxford ;  and  now  all  his  control  of  England 
during  the  time  that  he  lived  is  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed 
compared  with  the  work  that  has  been  and  is  done  by  this 
single  institution,  which  is  a  fountain  from  which  has  flowed 
his  munificence  for  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  years  in  the 
past,  and  from  which  it  will  flow  for  hundreds  and  hundreds 
of  years  in  the  future.  And  we  are  ourselves  beneficiaries  of 
this  historic  man,  who  abused  himself  and  who  has  been 
much  abused.  As  the  winds,  no  matter  where  they  come 
from,  wave  every  tree  and  leaf  on  their  passage,  so,  no 
matter  where  knowledge  springs  from,  it  goes  bearing  bene- 
faction to  every  living  soul  to  whom  it  comes ;  and  the  noble 
fruits  of  noble  natures  that  spring  from  this  great  work  of 


352  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD   WORK. 

Wolsey  are  yet  in  the  world.  We  are  ourselves  a  part  of  the 
great  band  of  those  who  have  been  blessed  by  him. 

Peter  Cooper  will  soon  die,  but  his  Cooper  Union  is 
immortal ;  for  when  its  foundations  crumble,  or  are  toppled 
down  by  war  or  by  the  earthquake,  there  will  be  influences 
that  it  has  sent  forth  into  the  world  which  cannot  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  world's  history. 

They  who  build  libraries,  such  as  the  Lenox  Library  or 
the  Astor  Library  of  New  York,  are  among  the  most  benefi- 
cent of  citizens.  No  other  labor  of  their  hands  is  to  be 
compared  with  that  by  which  they  have  established  these 
great  fountains  of  knowledge  which  are  free  to  all. 

He  who  opens  in  a  village  a  free  reading-room,  and  gives 
it  to  his  fellow-citizens,  has  made  himself  imr  rtal,  because 
he  has  become  one  of  the  men  who  have  set  on  foot  influences 
which  shall  go  on  working  for  hundreds  and  hundreds  of 
years  after  he  is  dead.  His  work  follows  him. 

He  who  establishes  a  church  that  goes  down  through 
generations  opens  a  fountain  that  shall  bring  daylight  to 
thousands  of  men  ;  and  he  himself  will  never  be  lost  out  of 
the  world. 

He  who  builds  a  hospital  for  the  sick,  he  who  makes  a 
refuge  for  the  incurable,  for  the  poor,  or  for  those  who  have 
no  home,  where  they  may  bring  forth  their  children,  dying 
or  living;  he  who,  seeing  misery,  provides  a  remedy  for  it — 
he  becomes  a  benefactor  and  a  philanthropist ;  and  his  work, 
being  established,  will  go  on  from  generation  to  generation. 

He  who  establishes  a  savings  bank,  and  teaches  the  gospel 
of  economy  to  thrice  ten  thousand  poor ;  or  he  who  estab- 
lishes an  insurance  company,  and  teaches  men  to  insure  their 
lives  or  their  property,  and  leads  them  to  form  habits  of 
foresight,  is  working  beneficently  upon  his  race. 

There  is  nothing  so  humble  but  that  it  has  its  effect  upon 
men.  There  is  nothing  that  makes  men  more  careful,  more 
frugal,  more  prudent,  more  sympathetic,  more  co-operative, 
more  courageous,  or  more  enterprising,  than  these  things ; 
and  there  are  none  of  them,  no  matter  how  humble,  and  no 
matter  how  little  regard  is  paid  to  them,  that  are  not  admira- 
ble. And  men,  working  wherever  they  may  be,  even  for  the 


THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD  WORK.  353 

secular  and  domestic  welfare  of  their  fellows,  or  for  their 
intellectual  enfranchisement,  are  working  in  ways  that  will 
be  felt  far  down  in  the  future. 

But  still  more  are  they  working  thus  who  are  working  for 
men's  moral  development. 

The  body  dies,  but  the  invisible  influence  does  not  die. 
Nothing  can  destroy  those  qualities  which  belong  to  the  soul ; 
they  are  forever  fresh,  and  they  in  whom  they  dwell  partake 
beforehand  of  something  of  the  vigor  of  their  own  after-im- 
mortality. 

Those  who  give  to  the  world  thoughts  which  enrich  and 
cheer  and  comfort  men  never  cease  to  work.  What  they  do 
is  not  to  be  seen  in  their  own  generation,  but  it  will  be 
seen  in  the  generations  that  follow.  Architects  who  build 
cathedrals  and  temples  and  palaces  which  inspire  veneration 
or  worship  are  men  who  in  their  own  way  embody  thoughts 
which  impress  themselves  upon  the  world  long  after  they  are 
gone. 

There  were  various  architects  who  at  different  periods 
built  the  cathedral  at  Winchester,  which,  though  it  may  not 
be  the  most  stately  and  the  most  magnificent  cathedral  in 
the  world,  is  the  one  from  which  I  extracted  more  comfort 
than  from  any  other  that  I  ever  saw.  Beginning  with  the 
earliest  Saxon  period,  it  represents  every  step  of  architecture 
in  England  down  to  the  present  day ;  and  every  one  of  the 
architects  who  were  employed  in  the  erection  of  that  cathe- 
dral sleeps  under  its  roof.  There  lie  the  old  English  kings — 
for  that  was  the  capital  of  England  in  the  Saxon  days  of  old. 
There  are  bodies  of  numerous  martyrs.  I  walked  up  and 
down  between  those  gleaming  walls  of  Caen  stone,  almost 
white,  and  it  seemed  to  me  as  though  the  historic  roof  shed 
luminousness  down  on  me  ;  and  I  was  impressed,  more  than 
by  anything  else,  by  the  fact  that  those  unknown  and  almost 
forgotten  men  who  reared  that  building  to  God,  there  rested ; 
and  thousands  of  sensitive  natures  who  wander  there,  like 
me  a  pilgrim  from  afar,  will  be  affected  by  what  they  have 
done.  They  did  their  work,  and  they  did  not  know  what  a 
comfort  it  would  be  to  those  who  lived  after  them — men  not 
yet  born,  and  from  a  continent  that  was  cot  yet  discovered. 


354  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD  WORK. 

Artists  who  are  worthy  of  their  name,  and  who  give  to  the 
affection,  the  thought,  and  the  higher  life  of  the  soul  expo- 
sitions of  truth  on  canvas,  are  silent  teachers ;  and  from  age 
to  age  who  shall  measure  their  influence  ? 

So  it  is  with  singers — with  poets.  Is  Shakspeare  dead  ? 
Is  Milton  dead  ?  Is  Wordsworth  dead  ?  Is  Watts  dead  ? 
Is  Wesley  dead  ?  Is  Dante,  or  Goethe,  or  Homer,  or  Virgil 
dead  ?  They  were  never  on  earth  as  much  alive  as  they  are 
now,  going  up  and  down,  to  and  fro,  through  the  times  and 
ages,  still  chanting  their  joyful  strains,  and  imparting  in- 
struction. The  world  was  never  so  full  of  them  as  it  has 
been  since  they  ceased  from  their  external  work.  They  rest 
from  their  toil,  and  their  works  do  follow  them. 

The  same  is  true  of  teachers  of  every  name  and  in  every 
place.  Of  course  teachers  that  are  in  honor  and  affluence  (if 
there  be  any  such)  are  content  with  their  work ;  but  all  who 
are  teaching  in  the  far-away  colored  schools  of  the  South  ;  all 
who  are  teaching  in  the  log-cabin  schools  on  the  pioneer  lines 
of  our  new  States  and  districts  ;  obscure,  feeble  women,  who 
are  not  apt  for  housework,  or  are  not  able  to  endure  its 
fatigues,  pining,  with  a  tendency  to  consumption,  but  never- 
theless teaching  in  summer  schools,  with  hardly  strength 
enough  to  bear  the  burden  and  heat  of  each  single  day ;  all 
who  are  teaching  in  Sunday-schools  and  mission  schools ;  all 
teachers  who  are  working  directly  on  the  conscience,  the  un- 
derstanding, and  the  affections  of  the  young — do  they  die  ? 

There  came  to  Litchfield,  when  I  was  about  eight  years 
old,  a  tall  and  slender  creature.  Her  name  I  have  forgotten, 
if  I  ever  knew  it.  So  delicate  and  attenuated  was  she  that 
the  sun  seemed  to  shine  through  her.  She  moved  so  quietly 
about  the  school-room,  that  it  was  as  if  a  bird  were  flying  in 
the  midst  of  a  tree  from  branch  to  branch.  Whereas,  before, 
in  that  hateful  old  stinking  school -house,  I  had  been  cabined, 
and  cribbed,  and  curbed,  and  pinched,  and  whipped  for  not 
learning  what  was  not  taught  me  ;  there  came  this  spectre  of 
a  human  being,  whose  eyes  were  lustrous  of  another  world, 
and  whose  heart  was  full  of  gentleness  and  richness.  Nor 
can  I  remember  that  she  ever  opened  a  book  to  me.  I  can 
only  remember  her  as  a  dream ;  but  I  feel  to  this  hour,  and 


THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD   WORK.  355 

distinctly,  that  many  of  the  things  which  I  say  to  you  were 
born  in  me  out  of  the  influence  of  that  woman,  who,  if  I 
mistake  not,  taught  in  that  school  but  a  single  summer.  I 
have  long  been  preaching,  and  it  may  be  said  that  many 
preachers  who  have  gone  forth  from  this  church  have  derived 
influences  from  me  ;  and  they,  in  their  preaching,  are  uncon- 
sciously and  unknowingly  indebted  to  her.  She  lives  in  a 
strength  that  never  dies,  born  again  in  each  generation  of 
men  who  carry  forward  the  influences  that  she  brought  to 
bear  upon  my  heart. 

These  are  illustrations  that  might  be  indefinitely  multi- 
plied, and  from  every  side  of  human  life  your  observation  and 
experience  will  increase  the  list  endlessly. 

Not  only  do  our  works  follow  us  on  earth,  but  I  believe 
that  they  follow  us  into  the  other  life.  What  we  do  here  so 
acts  upon  us  that  it  determines  largely  what  we  shall  do 
there.  We  are  throwing  ourselves  forward  continually  ;  and 
not  only  are  we  acting  thus  in  the  formation  of  dispositions 
and  characters  in  ourselves  which  are  to  last  in  the  other  life, 
but  we  are  acting  upon  others,  and  sending  them  forward. 
Multitudes  go  from  among  us  before  we  die.  They  pass  on 
in  advance  of  us  —  children,  scholars,  friends,  neighbors, 
parishioners.  We  are  like  men  that  are  upon  a  wrecked  ship. 
The  ship  is  driven  upon  the  shore ;  lines  are  extended ;  we 
stay  on  the  wreck  until  the  last  soul  is  landed,  helping  one 
and  another  and  another ;  and  then,  at  last,  when  every  living 
creature,  including  the  very  dog  itself,  is  off  and  safe,  we 
follow  and  reach  the  land,  where  we  are  welcomed  by  all  that 
we  have  helped,  who  are  rejoicing  with  thanksgiving  for 
what  we  did  in  their  behalf,  and  are  gathering  about  us,  even 
though  they  be  tattered  and  torn  and  in  their  night  vest- 
ments, as  their  benefactor  and  saviour. 

How  much  more,  when  we  go  up  from  this  shipwrecked 
world  to  that  shore  where  there  is  no  poverty  and  no  weak- 
ness, but  everlasting  joy  upon  the  head  of  every  one — how 
much  more  shall  we  then  be  met  and  greeted  by  those  whom 
we  have  rescued  and  sent  forward  !  It  is  better  to  have  saved 
one  soul  than  to  have  built  a  kingdom. 

It  is  from  such  considerations  as  these,  in  the  first  place, 


356  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD   WORK. 

that  I  would  encourage  persons  who  are  under  circumstances 
of  discouragement,  whose  ambition  is  not  met,  whose  ideality 
is  not  satisfied,  and  who  seem  to  themselves  to  be  working  in 
a  small  sphere.  It  is  not  for  you  to  determine  your  sphere, 
or  what  fidelity  may  do  in  a  humble  place.  The  greatest 
victories  of  the  world  are  those  which  are  snatched  out  of  the 
most  desperate  emergencies. 

If  Napoleon,  with  a  hundred  thousand  men,  had  routed 
an  army  of  ten  thousand,  it  would  not  have  been  evidence  of 
valor;  but  when,  with  twenty  thousand  men,  he  met  and 
routed  Austria's  hundred  thousand,  the  disparity  of  the 
numbers  and  the  desperation  of  the  case  made  his  fame  and 
his  glory. 

So  in  this  world,  not  the  things  which  are  easy,  not  the 
things  which  come  fastest  and  most  naturally,  are  always  the 
best  or  the  most  praiseworthy.  That  which  we  do  because  it 
is  duty,  that  which  we  do  because  of  faith  in  an  all-seeing 
Saviour,  that  which  we  do  in  small  places  and  under  obscure 
circumstances — that,  heaven  knows,  and  God  knows,  is  the 
thing  that  by  and  by  will  prove  to  be  the  gold,  and  not  the 
dross,  as  sometimes  it  does  here. 

If  you  have  no  gift  of  speech,  no  matter.  Have  you  the 
gift  of  rearing  your  children  to  honesty,  to  fidelity,  to  indus- 
try ?  Go  on.  There  is  eternity  in  your  work.  Do  not  look 
wistfully  out  from  your  place.  If  you  are  not  called  to  go 
forth  into  any  larger  sphere,  be  content  where  you  are,  and 
say,  "It  is  not  given  me  to  be  what  some  others  are." 

A  smith  in  a  Spanish  province  draws  a  piece  of  steel  out 
of  his  small  store,  and  works  by  day  and  by  night  in  his  little 
stithy,  and  forges  a  bright  blade,  and  makes  it  such  that  it 
can  neither  be  dented  nor  broken ;  and  it  is  sent  out  of  his 
sight;  and  it  goes  from  one  hand  to  another,  convoyed  by 
Jews  and  peddlers ;  and  at  last  it  falls  into  a  patriot's  hands ; 
and,  wielded  by  him,  it  rescues  a  nation.  It  flashes  above 
the  battle ;  it  leads  devoted  men ;  and  when  they  return  in 
triumph  and  peace,  and  this  patriot  sheathes  his  sword,  it  is 
the  sword  which  that  poor  obscure  smith  made.  He  has 
wrought  a  great  work,  but  he  knows  it  not. 

Every  mother  is  a  smith.     Her  child  is  a  blade  for  vie- 


THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD  WORK.  357 

tory,  if  it  is  well  forged,  well  taught.  You  may  not  know 
what  its  after  history  will  be,  but  God  knows.  He  takes  care 
of  that. 

Men  say,  "  You  tell  us  that  it  is  more  blessed  to  die  than 
to  live ;  you  quote  to  us  the  text,  Blessed  are  the  dead  who 
die  in  the  Lord :  they  shall  rest  from  their  labors  ;  but  do  you 
say  that  it  is  blessed  for  me  to  die  in  the  midst  of  my  house- 
hold ?"  No,  not  in  any  such  sense  as  that  you  should  seek 
it ;  but  God  brings  it  to  you.  0  thou  of  a  faithful  heart ;  .0 
thou  that  hast  given  to  husband  and  child  all  that  soul  can 
give ;  0  thou  that  hast  the  witness  in  thyself  that  all  the 
aims  of  thy  life  are  for  others — for  thee  it  is  blessed.  Do 
you  say,  "What  will  become  of  them  if  God  takes  me?" 
Look  up,  and  let  the  light  of  hope  shine  in  thy  face  ;  for  if 
it  be  God  that  calls  thee,  be  sure  that  it  is  God  who  will  take 
care  of  those  who  are  dear  to  you.  He  who  enables  you  to 
take  care  of  them  can  give  to  them  the  power  which  he  has 
given  to  you. 

"  My  companions — what  shall  become  of  them  ?"  They 
are  not  separated  from  you.  We  are  never  so  near  to  those 
whom  we  love  as  when  they  have  dropped  the  body,  and  have 
come  again  by  the  spirit.  Do  you  not  believe  in  the  com- 
munion of  the  saints  ?  Do  you  not  believe  that  those  who 
are  faithful  here  in  the  midst  of  tears  and  sorrows  and 
groans  and  labors,  and  have  wrought  out  in  themselves  the 
likeness  of  God,  will  be  rewarded  in  the  life  to  come  ?  Do 
you  believe  that  the  ineffable  qualities  of  fidelity,  of  love,  of 
truth,  of  simplicity  and  of  nobleness  are  less  because  the 
body  is  stripped  away  from  them,  and  because  they  cannot  be 
disce  ned  by  the  senses  ?  Are  they  annihilated  or  swept 
away  or  gone  from  us  ?  Believe  it  who  will ;  not  I,  who 
believe  in  the  communion  of  the  saints,  and  in  the  divine 
influences  that  are  sent  to  us  from  the  battlements  of  heaven, 
by  those  who  continually  cry,  "  Come,  come,  come,"  to  the 
loved  ones  that  they  have  left  behind.  God  will  take  care  of 
them.  But  if,  looking  forward  through  the  scenes  that  are 
opening  before  you,  you  tremble  with  fear  lest  suffering  shall 
come  to  one,  or  another,  or  another,  0  thou  of  little  faith, 
be  not  afraid  to  die  !  Be  not  unwilling  to  live,  either.  Stand 


358  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD  WORK. 

in  thy  place,  and  believe  that,  living  or  dying,  God,  who 
loves  thee  better  than  thou  dost  love  thyself,  will  do  exceed- 
ing abundantly  more  for  you  than  you  can  ask  or  think.  If 
it  be  God's  will  that  you  should  go,  and  if  he  calls  you 
to  go,  then  it  is  better  that  you  should  go ;  and  blessed  are 
you  if  you  can  go  willingly  and  joyfully. 

"  But  shall  I,  when  the  call  comes  to  me,  go  thus  ?  It  is 
a  sweet  and  triumphant  thought ;  but  shall  I,  of  human 
desires,  when  death  shall  come,  be  blessed — I  that  tremble, 
and  have  so  poor  a  hope,  and  a  worse  life — shall  I  be  pre- 
pared when  I  am  called  to  go  hence  ?"  God,  who  sows,  shall 
also  ripen.  He  that  has  begun  in  you  a  work  of  grace  will 
finish  that  work.  He  that  is  preparing  you  for  your  experi- 
ences now  will  see  that  you  are  prepared,  by-and-by,  for  the 
emergencies  of  sorrow,  and  for  the  exit  of  death.  Do  not 
try  yourself,  nor  test  your  preparation  for  dying,  by  the 
way  you  feel  to-day.  No  man  can  imagine,  in  the  hour  of 
strength  and  vigor,  how  he  will  feel  in  the  hour  of  death. 

There  hangs  the  green  pippin,  which  all  the  winds  cannot 
now  shake  off  from  the  boughs.  "This  is  my  mother-tree," 
it  says,  "and  'here  will  I  remain,  sucking  juices  and  growing 
large  and  sweet  from  day  to  day."  But  something  whispers 
to  it,  and  says,  "The  time  is  coming  when  thou  shalt  be 
plucked  from  that  bough,  and  gathered  into  some  garner." 
And  it  says  to  itself,  "How  can  I  ever  endure  being  plucked 
off?"  In  its  sour  juices  it  tries  to  think  how  it  will  feel 
when  its  juices  are  sweet.  In  early  summer,  clinging  to 
the  parent  tree  with  all  its  thongs  so  tenaciously  that  no 
shaking  of  the  stem  will  bring  it  down,  it  tries  to  think  what 
it  will  do  in  the  mild  autumn  days  when  apples  drop  without 
the  movement  of  a  breath,  because  they  are  ripe. 

Thou  that  art  green,  and  art  tied  to  life  by  many  thongs  ; 
thou  whose  duty  it  is  yet  to  stand  in  thy  place,  try  not  to 
think  how  thou  wilt  feel  when  it  is  thy  duty  to  leave  thy 
place  and  go  forth.  That  God  who  takes  care  of  us  to-day 
will  take  care  of  us  in  the  years  that  are  to  come.  He  who 
prepares  you  to  live  will  prepare  you  to  die.  It  will  be  easier 
for  you  to  die  than  to  live,  when  it  is  your  duty  to  die. 
Looking  forward,  be  not  sorry  because,  beholding  your  brood 


THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD   WORK.  359 

of  dear  little  children,  you  feel  that  you  could  not  willingly 
leave  them  if  God  should  call  you  to  depart.  He  never  will 
call  you  until  he  has  prepared  you  to  depart.  As  thy  day  is, 
so  shall  thy  strength  be  also. 

Work,  then,  in  courage ;  work  in  faith ;  work  in  hope ; 
and  work  under  all  discouragements  with  contentment,  know- 
ing that  you  are  doing  more  than  you  can  see  or  measure  ; 
knowing  that  you  are  sowing  seeds  in  the  air,  and  that  God's 
winds  are  wafting  them  hither  and  thither,  and  that  they  are 
springing  up  you  know  not  where  ;  knowing  that  you  are  serv- 
ing a  bountiful  Master  ;  knowing  that  though  you  are  doing 
but  little  to  the  sight  you  are  doing  much  to  the  faith,  and 
much  to  the  invisible  thought ;  knowing  that  your  life  will  go 
on  in  others,  as  others'  lives  have  gone  on  in  you,  and 
that  when  the  time  shall  come  for  you  to  depart,  angels 
will  come  for  you,  and  it  shall  be  whispered  above  you  by 
angelic  voices,  among  which  shall  be  the  voices  of  those  whom 
you  have  known  and  loved,  "  Blessed  are  the  dying:  come  up 
hither."  And  as  the  vision  of  angels  departs  from  our 
imagination,  methinks  I  hear  afar  off,  and  growing  less  and 
less  as  they  are  farther  and  farther  removed,  till  they  sweep 
into  the  celestial  city,  the  joyous  shout,  "  Blessed  are  the 
dead  ;  they  rest  from  care  and  sorrow,  and  their  work  goes  on 
and  follows  them." 


360  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD  WORK. 


PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

WE  have  no  need  to  come  to  thee  to  quicken  thy  thought,  or  to 
inspire  thee  to  remembrance,  O  our  Father;  for  thine  unsluiubering 
watchfulness,  aud  thine  ever-living  love  are  forever  in  advance  of  us. 
We  know  not  what  to  pray  for  as  we  ought.  We  know  not  what  are  the 
best  things  for  us.  We  know  not  the  proportions  of  thine  administra- 
tion. We  know  not  the  way,  though  thou  art  the  way.  Thy  providence 
is  full  of  beautifulness,  of  light,  of  darkness,  and  of  uncertainty  to  us. 
Naked  and  open  are  all  things  before  thee  with  whom  we  have  to 
do;  but  with  us  things  are  partial,  and  obscure,  and  uncertain;  and 
we  know  not  what  is  best,  though  thou  knowest  altogether.  And  we 
do  not  beseech  thee  that  we  may  instruct  thee,  or  remind  thee,  or 
persuade  thee:  we  beseech  thee  for  the  things  which  we  shall  re- 
ceive, asking  or  not  asking,  because  thou  hast  made  it  blessed  to  ask; 
because  the  gifts  that  come  through  our  solicitation  are  doubly  bless- 
ed; because  thou  dost  join  thyself  to  our  wants;  and  our  wants  are 
never  so  royally  supplied  as  when  they  are  supplied  by  thy  hand, 
consciously  made  known  to  us. 

And  now,  we  beseech  of  thee,  O  thou  best  of  all,  thou  most 
thoughtful  and  careful  of  all,  that  thou  wouldst  grant  to  us  to-day 
thine  own  self,  brought  very  near  to  our  consciousness,  that  our 
thoughts  may  rest  in  thee;  that  our  hearts  may  be  refreshed  in  thee; 
that  we  may  rise  up  from  that  which  is  low  in  us,  from  the  flesh  in 
all  its  ways,  its  duties,  its  burdens,  its  besetments;  and  that  we  may 
have  this  day  a  spiritual  life,  and  dwell  in  the  Lord's  Spirit ;  that  we 
may  rejoice  in  the  visions  of  the  blessed,  in  things  invisible ;  that  we 
may  forsake  the  enchantments  of  this  lower  life,  its  sorceries,  and  all 
its  evil ;  and  that  we  may,  at  last,  in  purity  of  thought  and  of  antici- 
pation, take  something  of  victory  before  it  is  achieved,  knowing  who 
is  the  Captain  of  our  salvation,  and  that  he  who  has  been  the  Author 
shall  be  the  Finisher  of  our  faith.  May  we  beforehand  rejoice 
in  victories,  and  in  a  consummation  which  doth  so  bring  to  us 
thoughts  of  thy  mercy  and  of  thy  wonderful  way  of  dealing  with  us 
in  life. 

We  beseech  of  thee,  if  there  be  those  in  thy  presence  who  are  sad 
by  reason  of  the  things  of  this  world,  that  they  may  this  day  be 
cheered  by  the  presence  of  their  God.  If  there  be  those  who  are  bur- 
dened, and  know  not  how  to  carry  the  load  which  is  put  upon  them, 
graciously  may  they  be  sustained  by  thee.  May  they  lean  upon  God, 
and  find  that  his  promises  are  sure.  If  there  be  those  who  are  sad  at 
heart,  and  who  look  upon  the  world  as  vain,  and  who  look  upon  the 
things  of  the  world  as  dropping  from  beneath  them,  and  as  passing 
beyond  their  reach,  may  they  rejoice  in  the  thought  that  as  this 
world  goes,  the  higher,  the  better,  the  true  world  of  the  soul  comes. 
May  they  have  faith  to  look  and  discern  it,  not  as  afar  off,  but  as  near 
at  hand— perhaps  nearer  than  they  believe. 

Grant,  we  pray  thee,  to  all  those  who  are  tried  by  sickness,  by  care, 
by  bereavements,  by  sorrows  of  any  kind,  courage  and  patience,  and 


THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD   WORK.  361 

a  disposition  to  improve  the  dealings  of  God  with  them  for  their  spir- 
itual and  everlasting  good. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  be  with  the  young,  and  grant  that  they 
may  grow  up  in  a  true  courage,  willing  to  know  and  to  do  the  things 
which  are  right,  and  to  withstand  whatsoever  is  unmanly  and  wrong. 
May  they  grow  to  a  stature  of  virtue  and  piety  such  as  we  have  not 
ourselves  reached. 

Grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  all  those  who  are  taught  in  our  schools, 
and  all  those  who  are  instructed  in  our  various  households,  may  come 
up  in  remembrance  before  thee.  May  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God 
rest  upon  them  abundantly. 

We  pray  for  those  who  are  laboring  in  word  or  in  deed  in  our 
midst.  If  thou  hast  inspired  them  to  charity  and  to  largeness  of  sym- 
pathy with  men,  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  clothe  them  also  with  the 
power  of  truth,  and  with  that  wisdom  which  is  from  on  high,  that 
they  may  go  forth  to  their  several  spheres  of  labor  and  work  in  faith, 
rejoicing  to  see  the  fruit  of  their  labor ;  and  may  they  work  even  if 
they  see  it  not. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  a  blessing  to  rest  upon  those  in  the 
midst  of  life  who  are  enduring  cares  and  feeling  the  winds  of  temp- 
tation's piercing  currents;  and  may  they  be  sustained  in  rectitude. 
May  they  maintain  a  Christian  manhood,  and  be  able  to  overturn 
their  adversaries,  and  put  aside  the  snares  that  environ  them. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  thy  blessing  to  the  aged,  whose  years 
on  earth  are  taking  hold  of  the  eternal  years ;  and  may  every  infirm- 
ity which  speaks  to  them  of  age  speak  to  them  of  renewed  youth ; 
may  they  rejoice  that  the  journey  is  almost  past,  and  that  the  new 
Jerusalem  is  almost  in  sight. 

We  pray  that  thy  blessing  may  rest  upon  all  the  churches,  every- 
where, that  worship  in  thy  name.  Purify  thy  people.  Give  them 
more  and  more  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  More  and  more  give  them  sym- 
pathy with  all  that  labor  for  the  common  cause  of  God  among  men. 
And  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  overrule  all  divisions  and  dissensions  and 
temptations  to  bitterness  which  prevail.  We  pray  that  thou  wilt  lead 
thy  church  universal  through  all  its  besetmente  in  such  a  way 
that  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  may  not  be  disowned  in  his 
own  house,  and  that  gentleness  and  purity  and  meekness  and  divine 
love  may  vindicate  the  claims  of  thy  people. 

We  pray  for  the  nations  of  the  earth.  How  many  are  yet  unvisit- 
ed  by  thy  gospel  1  How  many  know  not  the  truth  of  God!  How 
many  are  ignorant  of  his  Son,  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ!  We  pray 
that  thou  wilt  send  abroad  those  who  shall  make  known  the  unsearch- 
able riches  of  Christ.  May  those  who  in  distant  lands  dwell  in  the 
darkness  of  heathenism  be  strengthened  in  all  patience,  and  be  fruit- 
ful in  abundant  wortcs,  and  rejoice,  inasmuch  as  they  know  that  their 
labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord. 

And  so  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  press  forward  the  promised  day, 
and  f ullill  all  those  great  and  glorious  predictions  which  so  long  have 
hovered  in  the  twilight  of  prophecy.  Grant  that  they  may  begin  to 
fulfill  themselves,  and  that  all  nations  may  be  redeemed  to  the 
knowledge  of  God,  to  purity,  to  patience,  to  gentleness,  to  love,  to 


362  THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD   WORK. 

the  whole  circle  of  Christian  graces.  And  may  thy  name  on  earth  be 
everywhere  honored,  thy  kingdom  everywhere  come,  and  the  whole 
earth  be  filled  with  thy  glory. 

And  to  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Spirit,  shall  be  praises  ever- 
more.   Amen. 


PEAYEE  AFTEE  THE  SEEMON. 

Our  Father,  grant,  we  beseech  of  thee,  that  we  may  live  in  the  full 
hope  of  the  gospel,  and  in  the  full  fruition  of  faith.  May  we  not 
measure  ourselves  by  the  narrow  and  sensuous  rules  of  time.  May 
we  rise  to  more  of  the  divine  conception,  and  judge  of  ourselves  as 
God  judges  of  us.  May  we  so  be  able  to  put  ourselves  into  thine 
hands,  and  our  souls  into  thy  care,  that  we  shall  be  content  in  the  al- 
lotments of  thy  providence,  to  go  or  to  stay ;  to  rise  or  to  fall ;  to  do 
whatever  is  best.  Upon  those  who  have  feeblo  faith;  upon  those  of 
downcast  minds;  upon  those  who  are  weary  and  are  waiting  and 
wishing  for  their  departure;  and  upon  those  who  are  anxious  to  re- 
main— upon  all  these  may  the  divine  influence  rest  down.  May  they 
have  light  while  they  are  in  darkness.  May  they  everywhere  be  re- 
leased from  the  coarseness  of  this  world,  and  be  able  to  lift  them- 
selves up  into  the  serene  and  transparent  faith  of  the  life  that  is  to 
come.  And  at  last,  bring  us,  gathered  from  everywhere,  into  the 
companionship  of  the  blessed  in  heaven  ;  and  we  will  give  the  praise 
of  our  salvation  to  the  Father,  the  Sou  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  Amen. 


" For  thy  Maker  is  thine  husband ;  the  Lord  of  Hosts  is  his  name; 
and  tby  Redeemer  the  Holy  One  of  Israel;  the  God  of  the  whole 
earth  shall  he  be  called."— ISA.  liv.  5. 


You  \rill  take  notice  that  in  this  passage  the  sense  of  the 
divine  presence  is  brought  near  to  men  by  those  symbols 
which  have  in  themselves  the  most  precious  associations,  and 
which  touch  human  experience  in  its  tenderest  points.  It  is 
a  very  striking  thing  for  one  to  call  himself  father;  but  you 
will  observe  that  here  the  relationships  are  carried  out. 

"Thy  Maker  is  thine  husband;  the  Lord  of  Hosts  is  his  name; 
and  thy  Redeemer  the  Holy  One  of  Israel." 

Now,  what  two  elements  could  have  produced  a  magnifi- 
cent consciousness  of  the  glory  of  an  overruling  God  so 
strongly  as  this  appeal  to  the  tenderest  love  of  the  human 
soul — family  love,  and  to  patriotism,  or  the  love  of  country? 

It  is  as  if  God  had  said,  "  I  am  to  yon  as  the  husband  is 
to  the  wife  and  to  the  household ;  I  am  to  you  the  Holy  One 
of  Israel — your  fathers'  God,  and  your  nation's  God." 

Thus  having  brought  to  their  consciousness  all  these  ex- 
tremely powerful  suggestions  and  tender  relationships — and 
it  is  on  this  ground  of  the  particularity  of  nationality  that 
it  has  significance — he  adds:  "The  God  of  the  whole  earth 
shall  he  be  called."  Not  of  any  single  household  or  select 
circle  of  households,  was  he  the  God  ;  not  of  any  single  elect 
nation.  Although  he  may  show  himself  to  any  single  nation 
as  more  precious,  and  clearer  than  to  another,  yet,  the  God 

SUNDAY  MORN-ING.  Jane  38,  1871.  LESSON  :  Isa.  liv.  HYMNS  (Plymouth  Col. 
lection) :  Nos.  662,  655,  660. 


366  THE   UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD. 

of  the  whole  earth  is  he.  He  is  to  all,  or  may  be,  what  he  is 
to  any.  He  is  to  every  nation  what  he  is  to  yours. 

The  Hebrew  idea  of  God  stands  in  marked  contrast  to 
that  of  other  nations.  For  although  national  gods  were 
abundant ;  although  we  have  it  in  incontestible  history,  that 
very  largely  the  divine  idea  grew  among  men,  branching  out 
of  this  sense  of  the  family  and  of  national  life  ;  yet,  in  regard 
to  the  Hebrews,  they  seemed  to  hold,  by  their  best  men  and 
their  clearest  thinkers,  that  though  Almighty  God  had  made 
a  disclosure  of  himself  to  the  Jewish  people  tran  seen  den  tly 
clearer  than  to  anybody  else,  he  was  not  on  that  account 
theirs  only.  He  was  all  the  world's. 

A  candle  does  not  belong  to  the  candlestick  that  holds  it, 
but  to  every  one  in  the  room  where  it  shines  ;  and  the  knowl- 
edge of  God,  the  preciousriess  of  the  divine  revelation,  does 
not  belong  to  the  nation  in  which  it  is  first  and  most  clearly 
disclosed.  They  hold  it  as  a  torch ;  but  it  is  that  all  may 
have  the  benefit  of  its  shining. 

The  Hebrew  idea  stands  still  more  in  contrast  with  the 
polytheistic  notion  of  God  ;  for  the  Jews  held  that  there  was 
but  one  God,  the  Father  of  all,  the  Lord  of  all ;  whereas  al- 
most all  other  nations  contiguous  to  them,  and  everywhere, 
although  they  held  to  unity,  yet  held  to  a  unity  that  was  sub- 
divided, and  by  which  heroes  and  historic  personages  rose  to 
the  stature  of  gods.  The  government  of  creation  was  thus 
distributed  into  an  aristocracy  of  gods ;  than  which  nothing 
could  be  more  repugnant  to  the  revelation  of  God  as  it  was 
made  to  the  Jewish  people. 

It  is  also  very  clearly  to  be  distinguished  from  pantheism 
of  every  kind — or  the  teaching  that  nature  is  itself,  in  its 
sum  total,  God.  By  that  term  we  mean  the  sum  of  all  think- 
ers and  of  all  linking — the  sum  of  all  vitality  and  of  all 
phenomena  :  not  a  personality,  but  a  complete  system  of  the 
universe. 

The  latest  mystic  and  veiled  form  of  this  is  that  which 
Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  has  set  forth  in  an  attempt,  wonderful 
in  ingenuity,  and  still  more  wonderful  in  other  respects,  to 
show  that  the  Hebrews  did  not  believe  in  a  personal  God, 
but  that  they  believed  in  "a  stream  of  tendencies  which 


THE  UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD.  367 

make  for  righteousness" — that  they  believed  in  this  great 
quality  of  righteousness,  and  a  tendency  of  the  universe  to 
produce  it ;  that  they  believed  in  an  abstract  force  or  influ- 
ence and  not  in  a  personal  God.  I  say  that  this  is  one  of  the 
most  wonderful  pieces  of  ingenuity,  as  a  literary  marvel,  that 
has  been  known  in  our  life-time.  That  a  man  should  under- 
take to  show  that  the  Hebrews,  who  have  personified  God  in 
every  conceivable  way,  who  have  clothed  him  with  every 
name  that  belongs  to  personality,  who  have  represented  him 
in  every  possible  personal  form,  and  whose  whole  literature 
stands  distinct  from  every  other  on  the  peculiar  ground  of 
God's  intense  personality  and  companionableness,  now  and 
hereafter — that  a  man  should  undertake  to  show  that  they  did 
not  believe  in  a  personal  God,  is  one  of  the  most  stupendous 
and  astounding  literary  marvels,  not  only  of  this  age  but  of 
any  age. 

We  are  told  in  the  Scriptures  that  God  is  a  Spirit ;  that 
he  may  be  made  known  relatively,  partially ;  and  that  the 
knowledge  which  is  received  of  him  must  follow  the  develop- 
ment of  men  themselves.  Nowhere  else  is  there  so  much 
modesty  as  in  the  revelation  of  God  in  the  Scriptures.  In 
no  other  treatise,  in  no  other  book,  is  there  such  a  sense  of 
the  fact  that  God  is  greater  and  better  than  anything  that 
man  can  conceive,  and  infinitely  different  from  man's  con- 
ception. We  are  pointed  in  the  directions  in  which  his 
greatness  appears.  We  are  told  that  by  and  by,  in  a  later 
stage,  and  in  a  higher  development,  we  are  to  have  the  full 
knowledge  of  God — if  ever  a  knowledge  of  the  infinite  can 
be  taken  in  by  the  finite. 

Except  by  analogies  and  glimpses  of  the  spirit,  he  is 
incommunicable  ;  and  the  revelation  of  him  must  follow,  as 
it  has  followed,  the  development  of  man.  There  may  be  a 
disclosure  in  words,  which  seeks  to  compass  the  whole  ideal 
of  God.  There  was  that,  given  to  Moses ;  and  the  more  you 
read  and  reflect,  the  more  you  will  be  filled  with  admiration 
for  that  disclosure  of  God  which  is  recorded  in  the  thirty- 
fourth  chapter  of  Exodus.  The  reason  for  it  is  very  sublime. 
This  great  nation  had  been  taken  out  of  captivity,  where 
they  had  been  infected,  more  or  less,  either  by  idolatry  or 


368  THE  UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD. 

stupidity  and  animalism,  and  they  were  being  led  forth.  It 
was  to  know  how  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  nation  that  the 
statesman,  Moses,  asked  God  to  reveal  himself  to  him.  If 
there  be  anything  that  a  statesman  may  ask,  it  is  this  :  "  In 
the  discharge  of  my  duties  to  my  kind,  grant  me  something 
of  the  knowledge  of  that  God  whose  function  it  is  to  dis- 
charge universal  duties  to  universal  beings."  So  Moses 
asked  God  to  show  him  Himself,  and  I  think  that  if  states- 
men in  our  day,  reading  the  Constitution  none  the  less,  were 
wont  to  say  to  God  all  the  more,  "  Make  manifest  to  us  what 
is  entire  truth,  entire  honor,  entire  fidelity,  and  entire  benefi- 
cence," we  should  have  a  much  higher  state  of  government 
than  we  now  have. 

A  national  existence  was  starting,  and  the  people  had 
been  gathered  together  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Sinai,  receiving 
the  commands  of  God ;  and  then,  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
extraordinary  concomitants,  addressed  to  the  senses  through 
the  dramatism  of  nature  in  her  wildest  moods,  God,  in  an- 
swer to  the  request  of  Moses,  "  Show  me  thy  glory,"  said, 
"The  Lord,  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious,  long- 
suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth,  keeping 
mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity  and  transgression  and 
sin,  and  that  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty ;  visiting  the 
iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children,  and  upon  the 
children's  children,  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation." 

There  has  never  yet  been  put  one  single  word  by  human 
thought  or  pen  to  the  magnificence  and  the  completeness  of 
this  delineation  of  the  divine  character  of  him  who  overrules 
the  world  by  such  natural  laws  as  that  conduct  entails  con- 
sequences, and  consequences  carry  with  them  penalties,  and 
penalties  go  on  from  generation  to  generation.  Modern 
science  is  just  beginning  to  unfold  those  facts  that  were 
disclosed  to  Moses  in  the  earlier  centuries  of  Hebrew  national 
life. 

Now,  in  the  administration  of  government,  under  such  a 
constitution  of  natural  laws,  God  makes  himself  known  as 
paternal,  as  full  of  mercy,  full  of  kindness,  full  of  gracious- 
ness,  full  of  forgiveness — a  forgiveness  which  goes  through 
all  the  range  of  transgression  and  sin. 


THE  UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  OOP.  369 

And  yet,  though  there  is  this  declaration  of  God  in  words, 
we  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  any  real  knowledge  of  God 
must  always  be  dynamic,  the  result  of  the  power  of  experi- 
ence. Our  knowledge  of  God  must  be  merely  speculative 
and  intellectual,  until  we  have  filled  up  the  conceptions 
handed  down  to  us,  and  which  we  have  been  drilled  under, 
by  consecutive  and  long  administration. 

My  father  brought  me  up  and  took  care  of  me  till  I  was 
of  ripe  age ;  and  my  thought  of  my  father  is  clear  and  dis- 
tinct because  of  the  continued  perceptible  action  of  his  mind 
and  government  upon  me  through  all  the  periods  of  my  life. 
My  mother  died  when  I  was  only  three  years  of  age — an 
unforgotten  name ;  an  influence  without  personality ;  a 
vision,  a  form,  an  inspiration,  but  not  a  person.  My  father 
is  to  me  clear  as  crystal,  because  his  personality  wrought  upon 
me.  My  mother  is  to  me  an  ideal  beauty,  because  she  did 
not  live  to  exert  a  direct  personal  influence  upon  me,  but  left 
a  thought  and  a  memory  into  which  has  been  gathered  every 
ingenuity  of  fancy.  Every  conception  of  beauty,  everything 
which  makes  womanhood  resplendent — that  I  have  attributed 
to  my  unknown  mother.  To  my  mind  she  is  a  nebulous 
glory,  while  he  is  a  distinct,  clear-marked  personality. 

The  character  of  God,  as  a  poet  or  a  mere  philosopher 
would  reveal  it,  remains  in  the  minds  of  men  simply  as  a 
speculative  brightness.  The  God  who  has  governed  the 
world  by  laws  that  have  been  found  out  by  joy  and  sorrow 
and  mistake  and  obedience — that  God  is  the  kuown  God; 
and  so  it  has  come  to  pass  that  that  revelation  which  has 
been  made  in  names  and  words,  largely  and  radiantly,  has 
not  had  half  so  much  influence  as  that  side  of  the  divine 
nature  which  has  been  called  into  existence  by  the  revelation 
and  disclosure  of  God's  administrative  processes  in  this 
world. 

Now,  any  administration  of  a  moral  government  by  laws 
must  respect  the  character  and  condition  of  the  subject ;  and 
if  men  were  born  into  life,  high,  complete,  in  full  garniture, 
then  we  might  consider  government  capable  of  disclosing 
itself  to  them  in  all  its  amplitude ;  but  if,  in  point  of  his- 
toric fact,  men  have  come  into  this  world  at  the  lowest  stage, 


370  THE   UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD. 

if  nation  after  nation  has  been  born  into  savagism,  if  they 
have  gradually  unfolded  out  of  their  low  condition,  and  if 
there  has  been  a  long  process  of  their  education  through  ages, 
then  it  is  true  that  any  comprehension  of  the  divine  nature 
must  follow  the  capacity  of  the  race  upon  which  moral  gov- 
ernment is  administered.  And  if,  taking  them  at  their 
lowest  physical  state,  God  would  govern  men,  he  would  do 
it  with  power,  with  imperiousness,  compelling  obedience; 
this  would  be  the  side  of  divine  nature  and  manifestation 
which  their  circumstances  demanded  and  required. 

We  whip  children ;  but  we  do  not  whip  men.  The  rod 
in  the  family  is  good,  whatever  people  may  still  say.  As 
long  as  men  have  bodies,  there  will  be  motive  in  the  skin 
which  a  rod  can  find  out  in  a  thousand  instances  in  which  it 
could  not  be  found  out  in  any  other  way.  0  yes,  persons 
who  have  one  child,  or  two  children,  in  affluence,  with  so 
much  time  that  they  do  not  know  what  to  do  with  it,  and 
who  with  all  their  resources  can  sit  and  take  care  of  the 
child,  watch  for  it  beforehand,  and  turn  the  switch  so  that 
at  every  point  the  father's  and  mother's  forethought  neces- 
sarily causes  it  to  run  on  the  right  track — it  is  very  well  for 
such  persons  to  be  indignant  at  the  brutality  of  the  discipline 
of  other  people,  and  to  say,  "  The  way  to  govern  children  is 
to  win  their  love,  and  imbue  them  with  all  knowledge." 
That  is  the  best  way,  when  you  can  resort  to  it ;  but  take  a 
washerwoman  who  has  nine  children,  and  who  goes  out  to 
work  through  the  live  long  day,  and  comes  back  at  evening 
to  cook  the  food  of  her  husband  and  children,  and  sits  up  at 
night  to  repair  their  scanty  raiment,  and  works  until  nature 
is  weary  and  worn,  and  let  those  nine  great  robust  children 
be  quarreling  with  each  other,  or  with  the  neighbors'  chil- 
dren, right  and  left,  and  say  to  her,  "  The  best  way  is  to  win 
the  confidence  of  these  children,  and  to  exercise  forethought 
in  their  behalf" !  I  tell  you,  she  must  use  the  instrument 
which  she  can  use,  and  must  use  it  promptly — the  instrument 
which  God  has  given  ;  and  that  instrument,  and  the  circum- 
stances for  the  use  of  it,  are  apparent  to  everybody  in  this 
audience  who  was  brought  up  in  New  England  ! 

And  that  which  is  true  in  the  lower  sphere  of  our  own 


THE  UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD.  371 

existence  is  true  elsewhere.  You  must  govern  according  to 
the  thing  which  is  to  be  governed.  If  you  are  governing 
animals  you  must  address  yourselves  to  that  which  will  be 
recipient  in  them.  If  you  are  governing  savages  you  must 
put  an  amount  of  fear  and  force  into  your  government  which 
will  make  itself  appreciated  by  the  savage.  Always  working 
asvay  from  the  lower  motive,  we  are  to  use  that  which  shall 
prepare  the  subject  for  the  next  higher  plane,  and  the  next 
higher,  and  the  next  higher.  It  has  been  true  in  the  history 
of  the  world  that,  in  the  unfoldings  of  the  divine  economy, 
and  in  the  interpretation  of  the  divine  character,  the  earlier 
periods  have  been  obliged  to  represent  God  as  more  imperi- 
ous, as  more  full  of  physical  punishment;  and  figures 
abound  which  indicate  this.  As  represented  in  the  Bible, 
God  is  lion,  eagle,  thunder,  lightning,  monarch,  and  even 
despot,  saying,  "I  will  do  what  I  will  do,  and  obey  thou 
shalt."  But  as  the  world  unfolded  more  and  more,  and  be- 
came more  and  more  competent,  there  were  larger  propor- 
tions given,  and  motives  were  set  forth  which  disclosed  the 
higher  nature  of  God ;  and  these  were  addressed  to  national 
life,  to  pride  of  nation,  to  the  life  and  affections  of  the  fam- 
ily ;  and  these  left  the  old  motives  effaced.  For  God,  in  the 
higher  revelations  of  his  character,  is  paternal  and  national. 
And  out  of  these  higher  views  and  motives,  in  the  fullness 
of  times,  it  begins  to  appear  that  God  is  paternal,  not  to  one 
nation,  not  to  one  household,  not  to  the  lineage  of  Abraham 
alone,  but  to  the  whole  world — that  he  is  God  of  the  entire 
earth,  and  that  he  governs  all  mankind,  not  for  the  sake  of 
his  own  selfishness;  not  for  the  oriental  idea  of  his  own  per- 
sonal resplendency ;  not  as  Solomon  governed,  who  sucked 
the  nation  dry  that  his  individual  glory  might  be  augmented, 
leaving  its  foundations  rotten,  so  that  the  moment  he  disap- 
peared it  toppled  down  ;  not  for  the  sake  of  making  him- 
self look  beautiful  as  the  Governor  of  nations  :  he  is  revealed 
to  us  in  the  last  day,  through  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  Universal 
Sufferer.  When  the  times  had  come  in  which  the  world 
could  hear  it,  then  came  the  last  disclosure  of  the  divine 
nature,  which  is  that,  having  been  the  Creator  and  Preserver, 
he  was  also,  from  eternity  to  eternity,  the  One  who  thought, 


UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD. 

cared,  suffered  for  every  living  thing  upon  the  globe,  that  it 
might  be  saved  by  his  parentage. 

Rising  thus  from  the  lower  forms  of  appeal  and  motive, 
rising  from  the  earth,  rising  from  the  simple  phenomena  of 
nature,  rising  from  the  ruder  forms  of  primitive  government, 
and  from  all  the  developments  of  the  household,  just  as  fast 
as  men's  moral  ideas  enlarge  themselves,  the  conception 
grows  larger  and  more  bountiful  and  merciful.  Not  that  it 
leaves  out  the  fact  that  sin  entails  suffering.  The  truth 
remains  that  God,  by  the  very  constitution  of  his  nature,  of 
the  globe  and  of  the  universe,  will  forever  join  disobedience 
to  law,  and  to  consequent  suffering.  That  abides.  It  is  the 
mainspring  for  the  upbuilding  of  a  race  or  people.  But 
while  that  remains,  there  are  other  glories  that  remain — 
namely,  the  power  of  conscience ;  the  power  of  faith ;  the 
power  of  suffering  love,  which  is  the  definition  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Eevelator  of  God's  suffering  for  the  universe : 
suffering,  not  as  one  endures  an  ignominious  penalty,  not  as 
one  undergoes  punishment  for  wickedness,  but  as  a  hero 
suffers  for  his  country,  who,  when  he  dies,  is  praised  by  the 
whole  world  ;  or  as  the  mother  suffers,  who  takes  care  of  her 
children,  and  dies  for  them,  and,  dying,  becomes  illustrious  ; 
or  as  men  suffer  who  sacrifice  their  interests,  and  lay  down 
their  lives,  for  their  fellow-men. 

By  these  experiences,  and  by  these  symbols,  at  last  it 
conies  forth  that  God,  standing  central  in  the  earth,  is  doing 
that  which  among  men  is  noblest — namely,  carrying,  suffer- 
ing, enduring;  the  great  Burden-bearer  and  Atoner  of  the 
universe. 

This  disclosure  of  God  has  been  gradual.  It  is  not  fully 
out.  It  is  like  the  rose,  whose  sepals  are  glued  together,  so 
that  sometimes  the  beautiful  petals  cannot  break  them  open, 
until  some  kind  hand  pulls  them  asunder,  when,  in  an 
instant,  the  blossom  bursts  forth.  The  unfolding  of  the 
knowledge  of  God  has  been  waiting  through  long  periods. 
It  has  not  yet  fully  blossomed  out.  And  this  truth  of  the 
universality  of  God,  of  the  fraternity  of  God,  of  the  relation 
of  God  to  men  as  the  God  of  the  whole  earth,  is  one  of  those 
truths  that  have  lingered  long. 


THE  UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD.  373 

He  is  not  the  God  of  the  whole  earth  as  the  Jews  held 
that  he  was,  who  thought  that  Jerusalem  was  his  fishing 
place,  and  that  he  was  to  sit  in  the  temple,  and  throw  out  his 
line,  and  draw  in  all  nations,  and  make  them  all  Jews,  just  as 
to-day  the  Churchmen  think  that  God  is  a  Churchman, 
and  that  he  is  going  to  sit  on  the  dome  of  the  cathedral,  and 
throw  out  his  gospel  line,  and  bring  all  people  in  and  make 
them  Churchmen. 

How  good  a  thing  it  is  that,  amid  the  criminations  of 
theology,  now  and  then  there  is  a  laughing-spot ! — for  I 
think  that  wit  and  humor  are  the  natural  antagonists  of  the 
malign  feelings  and  belluiue  passions.  The  devil  never 
laughs. 

See  how  people  are  going  to  bring  in  the  unity  of  all  na- 
tions. "  Now  let  us  compromise,  and  let  us  have  unity,"  say 
the  different  churches,  and  they  all  respond,  "  0,  yes,  let  us 
have  unity."  Says  the  Presbyterian  Church,  "  There  must 
be  government,  and  there  must  be  something  definite  to  be 
believed.  Now,  our  system  contains  the  greatest  simplicity 
and  the  utmost  liberty  of  worship,  and  exactly  the  statement 
of  truth  as  it  is  revealed  in  the  Bible ;  and  you  cannot  expect 
us  to  give  up  that  which  is  as  clear  as  daylight.  To  have 
unity  only  requires  that  men  should  all  agree  to  that  which 
we  teach  " — which  I  suppose  is  true. 

The  Episcopal  Church  says,  "Why,  unity? — it  is  the 
great  desire  of  the  heart  of  God,  the  world  is  waiting  for  it, 
and  why  should  it  not  be  ?  The  world  have  nothing  to  do 
but  to  accept  our  form  of  worship  and  government,  if  they 
would  all  be  united  in  one. " 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  agree  to  this,  except 
that  they  hold  that  there  should  be  more  enthusiasm.  Epic- 
copacy  runs  to  taste,  and  Methodism  to  social  fervor.  They 
are  the  same,  either  in  America  or  in  England,  with  -nis  dif- 
ference. 

Meanwhile,  the  very  modest  Congregational  Church  steps 
in,  and  says,  "  It  is  unreasonable  to  expect  that  the  Presby- 
terian will  give  up  his  system,  that  the  Episcopalian  will  give 
up  his  system,  or  that  the  Methodist  will  give  up  that  which 
is  peculiar  to  him.  If  you  bring  them  together  and  expect 


374  THE   UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD. 

them  to  give  up  their  separate  notions,  and  go  contrary  to 
their  education,  you  cannot  do  anything  in  the  direction  of 
unity ;  but  if  you  bring  together  all  sorts  of  people,  and  let 
them  vote  exactly  what  they  will  do,  and  allow  them  to  deter- 
mine among  themselves  what  shall  be  their  government,  you 
will  accomplish  something" — (and  that's  Congregationalism!) 

So  every  one  of  the  denominations  stands  substantially  on 
its  own  platform,  and  says  to  everybody  else,  "My  dear 
friend,  let  us  be  united ;  let  me  swallow  you,  and  then  we 
will  be  one  1" 

So  it  was  that  the  old  Jews  interpreted  language  like  my 
text.  It  was  revealed  to  them  that  God  was  the  God  of  the 
whole  earth ;  and  they  interpreted  it  to  mean  that  he  would 
be  the  God  of  all  men  when  they  were  Jews.  According  to 
their  interpretation,  the  Assyrian  was  to  turn  Jew  ;  the  Egyp- 
tian was  to  turn  Jew  ;  the  Roman  was  to  turn  Jew  ;  every  one 
of  them  was  to  kiss  the  foundations  of  the  temple  in  Jerusa- 
lem. Said  they,  "It  is  the  promise  of  God  that  he  will  be 
the  God  of  his  people ;  we  are  his  people  ;  we  are  to  subdue 
all  men ;  and  they  are  to  be  his  people  through  us." 

I  need  not  say  to  you  that,  when  you  see  this  spirit  delin- 
eated in  one  class,  you  at  once  see  how  widespread  it  is  among 
all  classes. 

Now,  if  God  is  the  God  of  the  whole  earth,  he  must  be 
the  God  of  the  whole  earth  just  as  it  is ;  and  I  remark  that 
while  believers  in  the  true  God  were  tribal  and  national,  the 
natural  mistake  which  was  made,  and  which  should  put  us  on 
our  guard  lest  we  fall  into  it  again  in  substance,  was  that  of 
supposing  that  God  was  in  a  special  manner  the  God  of  a  par- 
ticular class.  So  let  us  not  forget  that  if  he  is  the  God  of 
the  whole  earth  he  is  the  God  of  all  those  physical  conditions 
under  which  men  are  born.  He  is  the  God  of  those  laws  of 
descent  which  make  the  character  of  the  parent  go  down  to 
the  children  through  many  generations.  He  is  the  God  of 
those  decrees  by  which  the  drunkard's  children  inherit  the 
drunkard's  proclivities;  by  which  deceit  propagates  deceit;  by 
which  honor  breeds  honor;  by  which  motives  brought  to  bear 
upon  parents  have  an  effect  on  the  welfare  of  their  children, 
reaching  down  to  the  depths  of  futurity.  He  is  the  God  of 


THE   UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD.  375 

the  climate  in  which  every  person  lives — of  that  climate 
which  drives  the  Esquimau  under  ground  during  most  of  the 
months  of  the  year,  and  that  climate  which  brings  the 
swarthy  African  all  the  year  into  the  open  air,  without 
clothes  and  without  a  dwelling.  If  he  is  the  God  of  all  the 
earth,  then  he  is  the  God  that  establishes  those  laws  which 
determine  the  occupations  of  men,  and  their  characters,  in  a 
large  degree.  He  is  the  God  of  the  physical  globe,  in  this 
sense:  that  whatever  affects  men  by  its  nature,  by  its  uncon- 
scious and  continuous  influence  upon  them,  is  of  his  ordina- 
tion. Being  the  God  of  the  whole  earth,  he  is  the  God  of 
the  mountains  and  of  the  valleys ;  of  the  winter  and  of  the 
summer ;  of  industry  and  of  commerce ;  of  all  the  arrange- 
ments of  life  by  which  men  are  influenced.  Men's  places  of 
abode,  and  their  nature,  are  largely  determined  by  their  cir- 
cumstances ;  and  these  circumstances  are  God's  decrees. 

What  are  God's  decrees  ?  Every  natural  fact  is  a  decree 
of  God.  God's  decrees  are  not  limited  simply  to  the  invisible 
world,  nor  to  doctrines,  nor  to  administrations,  as  theology 
has  pointed  it  out.  God's  decrees  are  seen  in  the  eternal 
summer  of  the  tropics,  and  in  the  eternal  winter  of  the  far 
north.  God's  decrees  are  seen  in  the  hard  work  of  the  indus- 
trious man  on  the  mountain  side,  and  in  the  shiftless  work  of 
the  indolert  man  in  the  valleys  overflowing  with  fatness. 
God's  decrees  are  seen  in  all  the  influences  that  make  races 
and  nations.  God's  decrees  are  seen  in  all  the  inevitable 
effects  that  follow  the  causes  that  are  operating  in  the  world. 
These  causes  are  divine  ;  or,  if  you  say  they  are  not,  then  to 
you  God  is  not  the  God  of  the  whole  world. 

Our  conception  of  God  in  theology  must  not  forget  those 
facts  ;  and  it  is  for  the  finding  out  of  those  facts  to-day  that 
science  is  at  work.  It  is  because,  in  finding  out  those  facts, 
men  of  science  run  against  the  old  theologies,  that  they  are 
called  infidels ;  but  every  disclosure  that  is  made  by  science, 
revealing  any  fact  of  creation,  is  a  revelation  of  God,  and  is 
precious,  and  ought  to  be  recognized  as  important  by  every 
man.  There  is  much  more  that  belongs  to  God's  universe 
than  we  have  yet  found  out;  and  there  are  many  things 
qr  to  God's  univorsj  that  are  different  from  the  con- 

\J 


376  THE  UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  ao£>. 

ceptions  which  we  have  formed  of  them  in  our  imperfect 
thought. 

God  is  also  a  providence.  As  a  providence  he  is  not  shut 
up  in  Jerusalem,  nor  in  Palestine,  nor  in  any  sweet  little 
parish  that  nestles  along  the  Connecticut  River  Valley  in 
Connecticut  or  in  Massachusetts.  He  is  a  providence  in  the 
whole  earth ;  and  he  is  the  same  kind  of  providence  to  the 
white  and  the  black,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  bond  and  the 
free,  the  male  and  the  female. 

The  whole  earth  is  God's ;  in  its  physical  structure,  and 
in  the  social,  intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual  relations  of  its 
inhabitants ;  and  his  special  providence  is  spread  abroad  over 
every  part  of  the  globe.  It  belongs  to  Africa,  to  Asia,  to 
Europe,  to  America  and  to  the  islands  of  the  sea.  But  how 
is  it  that  we  think  of  this  ?  As  the  old  Jew  thought  of  it  ? 
God  remembers  us  and  takes  care  of  us ;  but  does  .he  not  re- 
member and  take  care  of  the  nations  that  are  outside  of  us  ? 
How  is  it  with  the  people  throughout  the  world  ?  Out  of 
three  hundred  million  people  on  the  globe,  scarcely  one  mil- 
lion are  in  those  conditions  which  are  prescribed  by  theology. 
Out  of  these  three  hundred  million  people  there  are  probably 
not  a  million  of  the  elect,  if  you  try  them  by  the  judicature 
of  the  confession  of  faith.  0  my  soul !  straight  and  narrow 
is  the  road.  Many  strive  to  find  it,  and  few  get  in,  and 
fewer  get  out;  and  if  the  kingdom  of  God  was  entered  by 
the  gate  of  the  "Westminster  confession  of  faith,  if  that  were 
the  gate  through  which  every  man  had  to  go  into  heaven  or 
not  at  all,  in  my  judgment  there  would  not  be  enough  to  go 
into  heaven  in  any  one  generation  to  raise  a  chorus.  There 
would  be  solo  singers  scattered  up  and  down  through  an  im- 
mense space  uere  and  there,  and  only  a  few  of  them — so 
cabined,  so  cribbed,  so  narrow  has  become  the  sense  of  the 
divine  nature  that  shines  over  the  globe — aye,  to  which  the 
globe  itself  is  but  a  sun-spot ;  the  universe  swelling  out  illim- 
itably  and  rolling  on  past  research  and  past  thought,  portions 
of  it,  doubtless,  significant  by  their  creations,  differing  from 
man.  Everywhere  the  universal  and  Almighty  God  extends 
his  providence  ;  and  he  is  God  of  the  whole  earth  by  the  crea- 
tion of  the  physical,  and  by  the  providence  which  watches 


THE   UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD:  377" 

over  men  as  tenderly  and  as  gently  as  a  mother  watches  over 
the  rocking  cradle.  There  is  a  thought  of  God  which  is 
sweet  to  the  swarthy  Indian  in  the  infancy  of  his  develop- 
ment, to  the  wandering  Calmuck,  and  to  the  most  benighted 
of  the  interior  African  tribes.  There  is  a  thought  of  God 
that  is  dear  among  the  Asiatics,  the  Chinese,  the  Japanese, 
and  the  Tartars.  God's  heart  is  not  divided  by  latitutes  or 
longitudes  ;  it  is  not  checked  by  national  names  nor  by  race. 
It  is  universal.  It  is  the  reason  of  love,  the  course  of  it,  the 
power  of  it,  the  father  of  it,  in  everything  ;  and  God  is  him- 
self the  most  blessed  exemplar  of  it.  And  the  God  of  the 
whole  earth  shall  he  be  called— not  yet,  but  by  and  by.  The 
day  is  coming. 

If  he  be  the  God  of  the  whole  earth,  then  all  those  seminal 
and  fundamental  ideas  which  are  common  to  the  race  of  man- 
kind spring  from  him,  and  all  other  tendencies  spring  from 
him  ;  and  they  are  concurrent  testimonies,  prophecies,  of  the 
administration  of  this  world.  He  is  the  God  of  the  house- 
hold, and  of  all  those  influences  which  spring  from  its  love, 
its  responsibilities  and  its  cares.  He  is  a  God  that  so  made 
men  that  society  is  necessary  and  indispensable. 

When  a  vine  is  made  it  needs  no  argument  that  it  wants 
something  to  climb  on.  That  it  is  a  vine,  is  the  argument 
that  it  must  needs  climb  ;  and  the  convolvulus  climbs  upon 
the  stake,  twining  itself  about  it ;  the  ivy  throws  out  at  every 
axil  leaves  that  clasp  and  hold ;  and  the  clematis  quirls  its 
leaf -stalk  about  the  wire  or  the  pole,  and  so  climbs ;  but  the 
very  structure  of  the  vine  says,  "  Climb  !"  The  methods  of 
climbing  are  different,  but  the  necessity  of  it  is  in  the  organ- 
ization of  the  vine. 

Now,  God  is  the  Father  of  kings,  magistrates,  governors  ; 
and  he  made  men  so  that  when  they  came  to  be  developed, 
they  must  have  some  form  of  government  and  society  ;  and 
so  civil  governments  spring  from  an  original  decree  in  the 
nature  of  men. 

Out  of  that  grows  the  tendency  which  leads  to  man's  dev- 
elopment, which  overcomes  the  animal  in  man  and  develops 
the  social  quality,  and  out  of  that  the  moral  influence,  and 
out  of  that  the  civil  status,  and  out  of  that  spiritual  attri- 


378  THE  UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  QOD. 

butes.  All  these  instruments  are  at  work;  and  the  fruits 
which  they  bring  forth  are  the  results  of  divine  decrees — the 
decrees  of  that  God  who  is  God  over  all,  blessed  forever. 

In  every  part  of  the  globe  these  tendencies  are  the  same. 
The  family  live  everywhere  modified  by  divine  inspirations 
and  customs,  under  substantially  the  same  government. 
Everywhere  magistrates  differ,  laws  differ ;  and  yet  it  is  sub- 
stantially a  government  in  which  the  obedience  and  subordi- 
nation of  citizens  is  universal;  and  all  the  divine  nature, 
with  its  power  and  influence,  is  used  for  the  purpose  of  civil- 
ization ;  and  there  is  no  civilization  that  does  not  enfranchise 
the  moral  nature — that  is,  tend  toward  religion  in  its  true 
forms.  And  that  whole  administration  by  which  men  go 
through  various  institutions  to  come  to  a  state  of  civilization 
is  of  God ;  and  it  is  as  hroad  and  clear  in  the  woods  as  in 
Jerusalem,  or  on  the  interior  plains  of  Asia  as  on  the  lip 
of  the  Mediterranean  Sea ;  and  everywhere  God  has  shown 
that  he  is  the  God  of  all  the  earth  ;  not  of  a  select  people — 
yes,  of  a  select  people,  doubtless  ;  but  not  to  the  exclusion  of 
others.  He  is  the  God  of  the  whole  earth  in  this  :  that  he 
has  revealed  through  Jesus  Christ  the  paternity  of  God  ;  and 
when  he  teaches  men  to  say,  "  Our  Father,"  the  last  stage  is 
reached.  Beyond  that  there  is  no  name.  There  are  no  inti- 
mations that  can  be  grander,  more  powerful,  more  genial,  or 
more  comforting  than  that. 

In  view  of  these  statements,  I  remark,  first,  There  is  in 
church  life  a  bringing  home  of  God's  relations  to  men ;  but 
we  must  not  make  the  mistake  in  the  church  that  the  Jews 
did,  who  supposed  because  God  had  specially  ordained  them 
to  be  an  instrument  in  his  hands  for  the  civilization  of  the 
globe,  that  therefore  he  was  exclusively  their  God. 

I  can  understand  how  a  man  who  keeps  a  lighthouse  may 
come  to  think,  at  last,  that  the  light  in  his  lighthouse  is  the 
only  light  that  there  is  at  night  upon  the  globe,  and  that  he 
is  the  most  favored  keeper  of  that  light ;  I  can  imagine  that 
kind  of  conceit ;  and  in  the  Jewish  Church,  as  we  see  by 
reading  its  history,  the  Jews  felt  that  they  owned  God,  that 
he  was  a  monopoly.  And  we  find  that  same  spirit,  after 
generations  have  passed  by,  existing  in  the  Christian  Church, 


THE   UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD.  379 

where  it  has  been  held  that  God  was  the  God  of  every  man 
that  came  in  and  accepted  doctrines  and  ordinances  as  the 
priests  taught  them. 

It  is  difficuL  to  make  discriminations  rithout  causing 
misapprehension.  You  and  I  believe  that  common  schools 
are  useful  and  necessary ;  but  suppose  in  any  neighborhood 
where  there  is  no  school,  the  boys  are  determined  to  have  an 
education  ?  It  does  not  alter  the  fact  that  it  is  easier  to  get 
an  education  with  a  school  than  without  one ;  but  if  a  man 
can  get  an  education  without  a  school  he  has  a  right  to  do  it ; 
and  if  he  does  get  an  education  without  going  to  school,  it 
is  as  good,  so  far  as  it  goes,  as  though  he  had  gone  to  school. 

The  church  stands  as  God's  school-house,  and  it  is  an 
easier  and  shorter  and  more  natural  way  of  acquiring  moral 
and  spiritual  knowledge  to  gather  together  with  Christians 
where  there  is  instruction,  and  where  there  are  facilities  for 
learning  religious  truth  ;  but  when  men  say,  "  If  you  do  not 
gather  here  you  have  no  right  to  these  things  anywhere  ; "  I 
say  that  the  God  of  intelligence  belongs  to  the  race,  and  that 
a  man  has  a  right  to  get  knowledge  anywhere,  by  a  school,  or 
without  a  school,  by  a  teacher,  or  without  a  teacher.  Edu- 
cation is  as  free  as  sunlight,  and  a  man  may  take  it  where  he 
can  get  it.  If  you  can  get  it  through  appointed  schools  they 
will  help  you  ;  but  if  you  cannot  get  it  so  it  is  free  to  you  to 
get  it  as  you  will. 

Now,  churches  that  arrogate  the  ownership  of  God,  and 
of  all  the  truth  of  God  that  has  been  given  to  the  world ; 
churches  that  arrogate  the  ownership  of  all  those  ducts 
through  which  truth  extends,  and  say,  "Yes,  God  is  the 
God  of  the  whole  earth,  if  the  earth  will  join  us," — such 
churches  belie  their  office  and  their  Maker. 

There  is  not  a  church  on  earth  in  which  a  man  may  not 
come  to  God  and  find  salvation  by  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ ;  and  there  is  not  a  place  on  earth  outside  of  churches 
in  which  you  may  not  be  saved.  Even  by  the  side  of  an  idol 
a  man  may  find  God  to  be  a  substantial  reality.  Is  that  a 
favorable  place  for  it  ?  No.  Is  it  likely  that  he  will  ?  No. 
Are  the  moral  influences  such  as  would  in  all  probability 
tend  to  it  ?  No.  Nevertheless,  if  a  man  stands  by  the  side 


380  THE   UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD. 

of  an  idol,  and  has  the  spirit  of  God,  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  he  may  call  him  what  he  pleases — Jupiter,  or  Jehovah, 
or  anything  else.  God  does  not  live  in  a  name,  but  in  a 
quality ;  and  if  a  man  anywhere,  in  the  darkness  of  heathen- 
ism or  in  the  light  of  civilization,  is  led  to  put  his  trust,  his 
faith,  in  qualities  that  constitute  the  true  God,  then  those 
qualities  are  the  true  God  to  him,  without  regard  to  names. 

Well,  then,  we  are  not  to  give  up  the  church ;  for  it  is 
important  in  the  educating  work ;  it  is  necessary  that  it 
should  stand  as  an  example,  as  a  light,  as  a  teacher ;  yet  the 
attempt  of  the  church  to  administer  God's  whole  trust  of 
human  nature  is  a  piece  of  arrogance  and  impertinence  which 
ought  to  be  rebuked  in  our  day,  as  it  has  been  by  the  divine 
providence  in  days  that  are  gone  by. 

No  theory  of  atonement,  I  remark  secondly,  can  be  valid, 
that  has  not  been,  to  the  whole  world,  in  all  their  condi- 
tions, fixed  by  the  providence  of  God.  It  was  not  the 
Calmuck's  fault  that  he  was  born  in  a  den ;  it  was  not  the 
Bedouin's  fault  that  he  was  born  in  the  desert ;  it  was  not  the 
North  American  Indian's  fault  that  he  was  born  in  a  wig- 
wam ;  and  it  was  not  any  nation's  fault  that  it  was  born 
under  cramped  customs  and  laws  and  institutions ;  and  if 
God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  Son  to  die  for  it,  if 
he  is  disclosed  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  way  of  salva- 
tion is  open  to  all  men,  everywhere,  and  there  is  atoning 
mercy,  and  a  providential  supervising  of  it,  reaching  out  to 
all  nations,  races  and  conditions.  How  shall  it  come  ?  I  do 
not  know.  In  what  way  shall  it  work  ?  I  do  not  know.  I 
cannot  unravel  the  inward  counsels  of  God  ;  but  I  know  that 
they  who  seek  God  and  his  righteousness  shall  be  accepted 
and  saved.  I  believe  that  for  every  class  on  the  created  earth 
there  is  power  in  that  atonement  ivhich  is  God  himself.  Of 
that  atonement  which  is  God  himself,  Christ  was  the  trans- 
lator ;  he  brought  it  out,  and  made  it  apparent ;  but  the 
power  to  forgive  sins  lies  in  the  irresistible  love  of  God  him- 
self. The  power  to  transform  men  lies  in  the  inherent 
nature  of  God.  No  act  is  so  powerful  as  the  actor  ;  no  event 
is  so  powerful  as  the  influence  that  caused  it ;  and  in  the 
atonement  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  there  is  a  power  nhich 


THE   UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  QOD.  381 

though  you  may  not  be  able  to  follow  it,  or  interpret  it,  or 
conform  it  to  the  canons  of  received  philosophy,  is  universal, 
reaches  out  to  every  human  creature  ;  and  he  who  limits  it, 
or  withdraws  it,  is,  I  think,  like  a  man  who  steals  medicine 
from  a  hospital,  bread  from  a  famished  city,  or  water  from 
those  who  are  perishing  of  thirst. 

No  theodicy  can  satisfy  the  thinking  mind  of  to-day  but 
that  one  which  makes  God's  government  a  government  over 
the  whole  world,  and  not  an  oriental  household.  In  the  old 
times  there  was  the  wife  and  her  children,  and  there  were  the 
concubines  and  their  children.  There  were  Sarah  and  Hagar 
—one  for  the  wilderness  and  what  she  could  get,  and  the 
other  for  the  homestead  and  its  prerogatives.  There  may  be 
reasons  why,  in  a  kind  of  parabolic  life,  there  should  be  such 
historic  reminiscences  ;  but  to  take  these  rude  experiences  of 
an  early  age,  and  lift  them  into  the  heavenly  sphere,  and  call 
them  God  and  moral  government,  and  say  that  God  is  the 
God  of  the  favored  few,  and  that  the  great  outlying  sensitive 
race  are  not  under  his  government  and  sympathy  and  law, 
seems  to  me  to  be  so  atrocious  that  the  more  men  become 
educated  and  thoughtful,  the  more  they  will  resent  it. 

The  fact  is  this  :  that  in  our  time  the  world  needs  a  view 
of  God  which  shall  satisfy  the  highest  reason.  God  made 
the  reason,  and  it  is  that  by  which  we  go  back  to  him.  With- 
out reason  there  is  no  duty,  no  interpretation  of  providence, 
no  knowledge  of  God,  and  no  civilization.  They  who  decry 
reason  as  simply  a  natural  faculty,  and  therefore  not  to  be 
trusted,  rail  against  God  himself. 

A  view  of  God  which  shall  meet  the  wants  of  the  world 
must  be  a  view  which  shall  satisfy  our  understanding  of  the 
undeniable  I&cts  of  life.  It  must  be  a  view  which  shall  reach 
the  real  moral  sense  of  the  globe,  now  educated  in  the  Gospel 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  must  be  a  view  which  shall 
meet  that  state  of  mind  to  which  men  have  been  brought  by 
the  divine  providence  ;  by  the  educating  influences  of  the  life 
and  teachings  of  the  Saviour.  For  we  are  passing  out  from 
the  age  of  enforcements,  and  are  coming  more  and  more  into 
a  democratic  age,  not  in  the  lower  sense  of  the  term,  but  in  its 
highest  and  best  sense.  We  are  coming  to  an  age  of  indi» 


382  THE  UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD. 

vidual  power,  individual  judgment  and  individual  rights. 
We  are  coming  to  that  age  in  which  men  are  grown  to  such 
an  extent  that  they  are  beginning  more  and  more  to  be  large 
as  individuals ;  and  they  are  thinking  and  acting  from  mo- 
tives within  themselves,  and  not  merely  from  exterior  and 
enforcing  influences. 

Our  time,  then,  needs  that  which  shall  satisfy  the  wants  of 
the  great  mass  of  growing  and  thinking  men.  For  ages  men 
have  made  gods  after  their  own  hearts  ;  they  have  made  gods 
of  their  passions ;  they  have  made  gods  of  lust ;  but  we  are  liv- 
ing in  an  era  in  which  the  ideal  life  is  government,  and  law, 
and  intelligence,  and  purity,  and  loving-kindness ;  and  I  say 
that  the  public  sentiment  which  has  been  brought  under  the 
influence  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  cannot  but  be  shocked 
by  the  presentation  of  a  God  so  narrow,  so  partial,  so  exclu- 
sive, so  hard,  so  cruel,  as  the  God  which  theology  has  pre- 
sented. You  may  build  as  many  arguments  as  you  please ; 
but,  though  they  be  made  of  iron  and  steel,  clinched  and 
double  clinched,  you  will  not  long  keep  before  a  think- 
ing and  acting  generation  of  men  the  idea  of  a  God  that  is 
repugnant  and  hideous  to  the  sentiments  of  the  human  soul. 
Men  that  are  divinely  enlightened  will  not  tolerate  the  thought 
of  a  God  that»shocks  the  reason  and  the  conscience,  and  still 
maintain  his  power  and  ascendancy  in  the  heaven.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  present  a  God  that  will  not  rub  out  the  dif- 
ference between  right  and  wrong ;  present  a  God  that  makes 
more  and  more  manifest  through  the  ages  that  righteous- 
ness exalts  a  nation ;  present  a  God  that  administers  over 
the  earth  an  equable  government,  pitying  and  sparing  his 
subjects ;  make  him  the  Chief  among  ten  thousand  and  alto- 
gether lovely ;  search  the  choicest  places  of  human  experi- 
ence ;  go  where  the  heart  in  its  noblest  moods  is  responsive 
to  the  advanced  thoughts  and  examples  of  the  age  ;  go  where 
love  suffers  and  smiles  to  suffer,  and  take  some  letters  there  ; 
go  where  friendship  is  sublimest  and  most  unselfish,  and  take 
some  letters  there;  go  where  heroism  is  strongest,  bravest 
and  noblest,  and  take  some  letters  there  ;  go  where  sin  is  alle- 
viated, where  sorrow  is  illumined,  where  mercy  blesses  those 
who  deserve  no  mercy,  and  take  some  letters  there ;  go  to 


THE  UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD.  383 

prisons,  and  hospitals,  and  battle-fields,  and  poor-houses,  and 
chambers  of  sickness,  and  take  some  letters  there ;  go  to  all 
places  where  men  are  yet  animals,  and  not  angels,  and  gather 
letters,  and  they  will  be  letters  which,  when  put  together,  will 
spe11  GOD,  glorious  in  the  heaven  and  on  earth.  And  that  is 
a  name  which  is  composite  not  of  barbaric  forces,  But  of  sweet- 
ness, and  long-suffering  through  the  ages,  and  patience  illim- 
itable. Make  me  that  God,  and  I  ask  no  argument.  He 
that  has  beauty  needs  no  eulogy.  He  that  has  power  needs 
nothing  but  that.  A  God  that  reaches  the  want  of  the  race 
and  the  deepest  feelings  of  the  soul  will  stand,  though  against 
him  are  hurled  all  the  storms  of  infidelity.  No  bombarding 
of  eloquence  or  dissuasion  of  philosophy  can  keep  men  from 
believing  in  a  God  who  is  their  health,  theii  life,  fheir  joy 
and  their  salvation. 

That  is  what  the  world  is  waiting  for ;  and  if  to  the  great 
work  of  ushering  it  in  science  can  come  bringing  its  offerings, 
let  it  come ;  or  if  nations  can  come  unfolding  their  experi- 
ence, and  so  do  something  to  help  on  this  end,  let  them 
come ;  if  the  household,  more  rich  than  all  other  things  in 
its  treasures  of  experience,  can  come  with  a  sacred  love  which 
shall  illustrate  and  glorify  the  name  of  this  yet  unknown  God, 
let  it  come ;  if  the  soul  of  him  that  God  has  inspired  in  his 
personal  history,  and  in  whom  he  has  unfolded  strange  and 
rare  conceptions,  can  come  with  his  contribution  of  knowl- 
edge, let  him  come  ;  and  if  all  these  things  can  be  lifted  up 
and  made  into  an  image  of  God  before  the  world,  God  will  be 
glorified,  man  will  be  redeemed,  the  race  will  be  saved,  and 
the  universe  will  rejoice  forever  and  forever. 


384  THE   UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD. 

PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON.* 

MAY  God  be  merciful  to  these  dear  children.  Thou  hast  brought 
them  into  this  great  world,  where  they  know  not  anything.  Born 
into  life  as  to  the  outward,  they  are  full  of  darkness  as  to  things 
inward.  Though  they  be  born  into  the  visible,  yet  all  that  is  real 
lies  within  the  invisible.  Coming  forth  from  darkness  into  life,  they 
are  still  more  in  the  darkness  than  in  the  light.  And  we  commend 
them,  little  strangers  and  pilgrims,  to  thy  heavenly  love  and  care, 
believing  that  thou  wilt  by  thy  providence  vouchsafe  to  them  all 
needed  guidance.  If  not  a  sparrow  falls  without  thy  notice,  our 
Father,  shall  they  ?  Bless  them  in  the  love  of  their  parents ;  and  may 
it  be  a  love  that  shall  bring  forth  wisdom.  Grant  that  while  they 
are  receiving  benefaction  from  their  strength,  and  experience,  and 
wisdom,  these  little  children  may  render  back  a  hundred-fold  in  joy 
and  love,  and  in  the  teaching  which  comes  from  them  to  their 
parents  for  the  service  which  they  receive. 

And  we  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  open  the  hearts  of  thy  peo- 
ple more  and  more  to  these  little  ones ;  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
God.  May  we  in  them  behold  what  we  should  be  toward  thee.  May 
we  behold  their  clinging  love,  their  conscious  helplessness,  and  their 
implicit  trust.  May  we  recognize  in  thee  a  Father;  and  may  we 
have  toward  thee  that  trust  and  that  love  which  a  child  has  toward 
its  parents ;  and  may  we  have  a  consciousness  that  we  derive  from 
thee  whatever  is  best  and  noblest  in  the  upbuilding  of  that  nature 
which  is  to  outlive  death,  and  which  is  to  stand  in  glory  in  the  life 
which  is  to  come. 

Eemember  all  the  children  that  are  within  our  congregation,  and 
that  are  under  our  care  in  the  various  labors  of  thy  servants,  in 
every  field,  everywhere.  We  pray  that  the  endeavor  to  inspire  in 
their  parents  and  in  the  households  where  they  dwell  more  fidelity 
may  be  blessed  of  God.  May  the  efforts  which  we  make  to  instruct 
and  ground  them  in  a  sound  morality,  and  to  bring  them  up  as  use- 
ful men  and  citizens,  may  receive  thy  blessing. 

We  pray  that  those  who  are  willing  to  labor  and  to  bear  pain  may 
rejoice  to  feel  that  they  follow,  though  it  be  with  feeble,  incompetent 
footsteps,  the  example  of  their  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  May 
none  be  weary  in  well  doing,  remembering  that  in  due  season  they 
shall  reap  if  they  faint  not. 

Bless  all  those  who,  looking  upon  their  children,  are  in  distress  by 
reason  of  any  fear,  any  grief,  or  any  trouble  that  darkens  their  life 
or  their  household,  May  their  faith  never  fail  them.  May  they  feel 
that  they  never  stand  so  near  to  the  heart  and  right  hand  of  divine 
power  as  when  they  are  pleading  for  the  welfare  of  their  children ; 
and  may  they  not  be  impatient  because  God  is  long-suffering  and 
waits.  In  due  season  tbou  shalt  avenge  thine  own  elect;  in  due 
season  thou  shalt  bring  forth  righteousness;  and  let  none  that  are 
curmoiled,  let  none  that  are  distressed  of  soul,  let  none  that  bear 
burdens  complain  or  murmur.  May  they  wait  upon  the  Lord.  And 


*  Immediately  following  the  baptism  of  children. 


THE   UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD.  385 

wilt  thou  bring  forth  light  in  every  household  where  there  is  dark- 
ness, and  wilt  thou  bring  forth  joy  in  every  household  where  there 
is  sorrow. 

Grant  thy  blessing  to  rest  upon  all  teachers  in  public  schools  and 
in  private  schools ;  upon  all  who  are  teaching  the  poor  or  neglected, 
whether  they  be  near  or  afar  off;  and  upon  all  who  are  seeking  to  lay 
foundations  of  piety  in  true  knowledge.  Bless  all  those  who  are 
laboring  to  prepare  teachers  for  their  sphere;  and  may  they  rejoice 
in  their  work,  even  under  discouragements. 

May  knowledge  go  forth,  not  to  overturn  faith,  but  to  establish  it 
on  immutable  foundations.  May  this  nation  be  saved  from  supersti- 
tion, from  blind  adhesion  to  exterior  things,  and  from  vanity  arising 
from  a  conceited  ambition  in  things  intellectual.  May  this  great 
people  fear  God,  and  keep  his  commandments.  So  we  pray  that  thy 
name  may  be  honored  and  glorified  in  our  prosperity. 

Bless,  we  pray  thee,  the  President  of  these  United  States,  and  all 
who  are  joined  with  him  in  authority.  Bless  all  judges,  and  magis- 
trates, and  legislators.  Grant  that  the  whole  body  of  the  citizens  of 
this  land  may  obey  the  laws  implicitly,  and  that  justice  may  prevail, 
and  that  peace  may  abide  throughout  all  our  borders. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  hold  back  thine  hand.  Suffer 
not  the  scourge  of  disease  to  fall  upon  this  land.  Let  not  thy  plagues 
visit  this  people.  By  thy  mercies  soften  their  hearts  and  lead  them 
to  repentance. 

We  pray  for  all  the  striving  nations  of  the  earth.  We  believe 
that  out  of  darkness  is  coming  light.  Ere  long  the  morning  shall 
break ;  and  there  is  not  that  in  night  that  can  put  out  the  light  that, 
traveling  afar,  shall  come  again. 

Though  revolution  follow  revolution,  though  there  be  wars  upon 
wars,  and  though  troubles  multiply,  we  rejoice,  O  Lord  our  God,  that 
thy  word  stands  sure.  Thou  art  the  God  of  the  whole  earth.  All 
things  are  beneath  thine  eye,  and  all  things  in  the  end  shall  come  to 
work  together  for  good  for  the  welfare  of  man,  and  for  the  glory  of 
God. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt,  in  thine  own  time,  hasten  these 
things.  Bring  in  Jew  and  Gentile.  Exalt  all  nations.  Make  the 
weak  strong,  and  keep  the  strong  from  impetuous  pride  and  domina- 
tion. So  make  all  men  recognize  the  brotherhood  of  love  as  that 
which  should  bind  them  together.  Bring  in  the  bright  ideal  of  life  in 
society  and  among  nations.  Make  haste,  we  beseech  of  thee,  thou 
that  art  emerging  toward  the  future  with  abundant  victories,  to 
show  forth  the  signs  and  token?  that  shall  give  hope  to  all  men. 
Come,  for  the  whole  earth  doth  wait  for  thee. 

And  so,  at  last,  when  thou  shalt  have  redeemed  the  nations  and 
established  thy  kingdom  in  all  the  earth,  let  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  rejoice  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  unite  in  gladness  and 
thanksgiving  to  thee,  as  when  the  world  was  first  created. 

And  to  thy  name  shall  be  the  praise,  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit, 
evermore.  -Imc/t. 


386  THE  UNIVERSAL  HEART  OF  GOD. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

O  THOTT  that  art  love  over  all  the  earth,  thou  that  art  power  over 
all  the  earth,  thou  that  art  knowledge  to  all  the  earth,  thou  that  art 
redemption  to  all  the  earth,  thou  that  hast  in  days  gone  by,  from 
eternity,  been  God,  and  thou  that  shalt  be  unto  eternity  God  over 
all,  to  thee  we  bring  our  rejoicings,  knowing  that  we  do  not  under- 
stand thee ;  knowing  that  it  is  but  the  hem  of  thy  garment  that  we 
touch  with  our  thoughts,  but  believing  that  we  shall  behold  thy 
blessed  and  beatific  countenance  and  understand  thee  when  our 
souls,  by  heavenly  intelligence,  shall  be  uplifted  in  the  life  that  is  to 
come.  Grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  all  the  glimpses  and  fragmentary 
knowledge  which  we  have  of  thee  may  be  so  directed  by  thy  good 
providence  that  we  shall  go  on,  to  virtue,  to  fortitude,  to  aspiration,  to 
the  utmost  endeavor,  and  to  patient  continuance  in  well  doing  on 
every  side.  By  faith,  by  love,  and  by  hope  may  we  hold  fast  to  thee, 
and  wait  for  thy  disclosure,  which  shall  be  made  when  we  shall  see 
thee  as  thou  art,  and  be  like  unto  thee.  Now  we  see  through  a  glass, 
darkly;  but  then  we  shall  see  face  to  face.  Now  all  things  are 
transient,  and  are  passing  away;  but  amidst  universal  wreck  behold, 
blossoming  in  the  wilderness,  unsmitten  by  the  winter,  and  unsoorch- 
ed  by  the  summer,  that  youth  which  time  cannot  touch.  There  abid- 
eth  faith,  hope,  love;  and  the  greatest  of  these  is  love;  and  thou,  O 
God,  art  love.  And  to  thy  name  shall  be  praise  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE. 


"  Even  as  the  son  of  man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to 
minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  manv." — Matt.  xx..  28. 

"  If  there  be  therefore  any  consolation  in  Christ,  if  any  comfort 
of  love,  if  any  fellowship  of  the  Spirit,  if  any  bowels  and  mercies, 
fulfill  ye  my  joy,  that  ye  be  likeminded,  having  the  same  love,  being 
of  one  accord,  of  one  mind.  Let  nothing  be  done  through  strife  or 
vainglory;  but  in  lowliness  of  mind  let  each  esteem  other  better 
than  themselves.  Look  not  every  man  on  his  own  things,  but  every 
man  also  on  the  things  of  others.  Let  this  mind  be  in  you  which  was 
also  in  Christ  Jesus :  who,  being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not 
robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  but  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and 
took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness 
of  men ;  and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled  himself, 
and  became  obedient  unto  death,  oven  the  death  of  the  cross. 
Wherefore  God  also  hath  highly  exalted  him,  and  given  him  a  name 
which  is  above  every  name,  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee 
should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven  and  things  in  earth,  and  things 
under  the  earth ;  and  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father."— Phil,  ii.,  1-11. 


You  will  observe  that  that  which  sounds  through  this  pas- 
sage is  the  glory  of  self-renunciation.  This  is  not  the  vision 
of  a  God  in  the  plenitude  of  power  :  it  is  the  vision  of  a  God 
disrobing  himself  of  power.  Not  the  attributes  of  royalty, 
but  the  habiliments  of  servitude,  are  the  insignia  here  held 
forth.  All  creation  is  exalted  to  a  rapturous  praise  of  a 
being  who  is  set  forth  by  the  symbols  of  suffering  and  self- 
renunciation. 

That  which  is  here  uttered  (not  a  dirge  but  a  paean)  by 
the  apostle  of  our  Saviour  was  also,  in  the  first  passage  that 
I  read,  substantially  stated  by  the  Saviour  himself.  When 

8trtn>AT  MORNING,  July  5,  1874.     WESSON  :  Psa.  xcvi.    HYMNS  (Plymouth  Col- 
lection): NOB.  212, 907. 


390  THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE. 

they  were  making  the  last  progress  toward  Jerusalem,  just 
before  his  passion  and  death,  the  mother,  with  her  sons,  drew 
near,  with  a  secret  ambition  to  exalt  James  and  John  (per- 
haps it  was)  to  the  first  places — to  seats  on  the  right  hand  and 
on  the  left  of  Christ ;  and  our  Saviour,  with  great  gentleness, 
instructed  them — for  instruction  in  this  case  was  rebuke  ; 
whereas,  the  other  disciples  were  exceedingly  angry ;  and  to 
these  it  was  that  the  Master  turned  and  said  : 

"Ye  know  that  the  princes  of  the  Gentiles  exercise  dominion 
over  them,  and  they  that  are  great  exercise  authority  upon  them ; 
but  it  shall  not  be  so  among  you ;  but  whosoever  will  be  great  among 
you,  let  him  be  your  minister  [not  your  clergyman — by  no  means — 
but  your  servant] ;  and  whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you,  let  him 
be  your  slave  [that  is  full  force  of  the  original] :  even  as  the  son  of 
man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto  [not  to  be  served],  but  to  minis- 
ter, and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many." 

There  can  be  no  question  that  the  Christian  religion  has 
come  down  to  us  with  a  color  which  it  had  not  in  the  primi- 
tive church,  and  which  it  ought  not  to  have ;  and  that  it  has 
been  so  stained  through  and  through  with  the  ascetic  element 
as  to  make  it  a  totally  different  thing  in  the  apprehension  of 
men  from  what  the  religious  spirit  and  service  were  to  the  Old 
Testament  saint,  from  the  spirit  of  the  apostles  themselves, 
and  from  the  normal  nature  of  things. 

I  declare  that  the  Christian  religion  is  the  introduction 
upon  a  lower  nature  of  a  higher  nature,  and  that  it  is  there- 
fore, in  the  highest  and  noblest  sense  of  the  word,  natural. 
Men  have  been  afraid  to  call  religious  things  natural  for  fear 
that  they  should  drag  them  down  and  degrade  them  ;  but  the 
true  way  is  to  bring  nature  higher,  and  show  it  as  it  is,  as  the 
organized  thought  of  God,  and  to  make  it  larger  in  its  sphere, 
so  that  we  shall  no  longer  think  of  mere  matter  when  we 
speak  of  nature,  but  include  in  it  mind  and  emotion  and  dis- 
position, and  the  total  of  a  glorious  manhood. 

I  say  that  religion,  instead  of  being  an  interpolated  thing, 
a  stop-gap,  made  by  reason  of  man's  fall,  an  episode  in  the 
history  of  creation,  is  in  the  nature  of  things,  from  eternity 
to  eternity,  and  expresses  the  best  things  of  God  and  the  best 
things  of  man ;  and  that  it  bears  in  itself  the  highest  noble- 
ness and  the  highest  happiness. 


THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE.  391 

The  Jewish  religion  involved,  to  be  sure,  penitential 
elements,  and  recognized  in  the  experience  of  life  abundant 
sorrows ;  but  the  genius  of  the  religion  that  was  instituted 
by  inspiration  through  Moses  was  certainly  cheerful  and  joy- 
ous ;  and  the  spirit  of  the  Old  Testament,  while  it  has  its 
sadnesses,  while,  in  other  words,  it  recognizes  the  experience 
of  the  human  race,  yet  whenever  it  lifts  itself  up  to  the  ideal 
plane  where  the  human  race  are  entitled  to  live  is  wonder- 
fully joyous. 

The  life  of  Christ  also,  I  take  it,  is  greatly  misinterpreted. 
It  involved  suffering,  and,  at  the  last  and  great  dramatic 
hour,  an  awful  passion  which  human  thought  may  not  com- 
pass nor  fathom.  And  yet,  it  seems  to  me,  no  man  can  read 
the  life  of  Christ  continuously,  from  beginning  to  end,  and 
take  in  what  must  have  been  the  movement  of  the  thoughts 
of  such  an  one  as  he,  going  about  clothed  with  double 
power — power  from  on  high  and  from  on  the  earth — and 
doing  good,  with  any  other  result  than  that  of  rinding  there 
the  fruit  of  joy.  The  essential  spirit  of  Christ  was  not  sad, 
but  deeply  joyful ;  and  so  it  is  said  : 

"Who,  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him  [that  ever  hovered 
over  him  and  lightened  his  path],  endured  the  cross." 

Joy,  supereminent  and  abounding,  floated  up  the  life  of 
Christ  upon  the  under  waves  ;  and  when,  in  his  darkest  hour, 
he  met  his  disciples,  he  was  not  as  a  sufferer  overcome :  he 
was  in  suffering  the  unsuffering,  if  I  may  so  say ;  for  he  said 
to  them,  when  the  shadow  was  on  him,  "My  peace  I  give 
unto  you."  Now,  he  that  in  the  extremity  of  suffering  had 
peace  to  give  to  those  who  were  about  him  was  not  over- 
whelmed with  any  such  sense  of  suffering  as  we  have  been 
wont  to  attribute  to  him. 

The  writings  of  the  apostle  are  full  of  pathos  and  full  of 
earnestness,  and  they  recognize,  in  the  most  eminent  degree, 
the  conflicts  of  life ;  but  the  very  spirit  of  hope  and  joy 
pervades  them.  They  always  move  with  the  step  of  victory. 
There  is  nowhere  else,  in  an  equal  compass,  such  exaltation 
or  exultation,  I  think,  as  is  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  the 
apostles,  and  preeminently  in  those  of  Paul,  the  sufferer  and 
the  rejoicer.  I  know  not  where  you  will  find,  if  you  come 


392  THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE. 

into  the  full  spirit  of  it,  a  more  magnificent  instance  of  it 
than  that  which  is  recorded  in  the  closing  words  of  the 
eighth  of  Romans,  where  he  has  been  speaking  of  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  whole  world ;  where  he  looks  upon  the  creature 
delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God,  and  says,  "  The  whole  crea- 
tion is  going  on  still  groaning,  and  it  is  still  travailing  in 
pain."  And  then,  after  reasoning  on  all  the  light  and  dark- 
ness in  which  the  world  moves,  he  says : 

"  What  shall  we  say,  then,  to  these  things  ?  If  God  be  for  us,  who 
can  be  against  us?  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  delivered 
him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all 
things.  Who  shall  lay  anything  to  the  charge  of  God's  elect?  It  is 
God  that  justifleth.  Who  is  he  that  condemneth?  It  is  Christ  that 
died,  yea,  rather,  that  is  risen  again,  who  is  even  at  the  right  hand  of 
God,  who  also  maketh  intercession  for  us.  Who  shall  separate  us 
from  the  love  of  Christ  ? " 

And  now  look  at  this  magnificent  defiance  with  which  he 
throws  down  the  gauntlet  to  every  conceivable  form  of  earth- 
ly misfortune : 

"  Shall  tribulation,  or  distress,  or  persecution,  or  famine,  or  naked- 
ness, or  peril,  or  sword?  As  it  is  written,  For  thy  sake  we  are  killed 
all  the  day  long;  we  are  accounted  as  sheep  for  the  slaughter.  Nay, 
[and  where  is  there  such  another  magnificent  burst  of  joy  and  cheer 
as  this?]  in  all  these  things  [in  tribulation,  and  distress,  and  persecu- 
tion, and  famine,  and  nakedness,  and  peril,  and  sword]  we  are  more 
than  conquerors  through  him  that  loved  us.  For  I  am  persuaded 
[and  now  his  thought  overleaps  the  bounds  of  time  and  earth,  and 
takes  in  the  universe]  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor 
principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor 
height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate 
us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

Now,  I  ask  you  whether  the  whole  view  of  the  Christian 
religion,  as  it  is  laid  down  in  the  New  Testament,  is  not  one 
of  joyfulness — whether  that  is  not  the  preeminent  element, 
the  genius,  of  it.  I  ask  you  whether  the  religious  life  which 
has  been  handed  down  to  us  from  the  church  of  the  mediaeval 
ages  is  not,  after  all,  so  stained  through  with  a  sense  of  mel- 
ancholy and  restriction  and  loss  and  narrowness  and  suffering 
that  the  popular  impression  is  that  religion,  if  not  morose, 
is  yet  moody  and  melancholy,  sad  and  sorrowful ;  that  its 
joy  lies  in  the  things  that  are  to  be  in  the  life  which  is  to 
come,  and  not  in  the  thing  itself.  I  ask  you  whether  the 


THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE.  393 

ascetic  view  has  not  been  preached,  and  is  not  still  preached, 
unconsciously,  by  men  who  disown  it  in  terms,  and  who  yet 
make  representations  of  great  doctrines  in  such  a  way  as 
to  impress  the  minds  of  their  fellow-men  with  the  convic- 
tion that  to  do  the  things  that  are  noblest,  best,  divinest, 
in  accordance  with  the  highest  law  of  true  manhood,  requires 
great  suffering ;  and  that  it  requires  a  special  dispensation 
of  grace  to  enable  men  to  do  those  things,  because  they  are 
not  only  so  hard,  but  so  painful  in  the  doing. 

This  ascetic  view  of  religion  is  false  in  general,  and 
in  particular  it  destroys  its  power.  It  is  for  the  welfare 
of  the  race  that  they  should  understand  not  only  that  the 
highest  line  of  manhood  is  possible,  but  that  it  is  the  most 
redolent  of  joy.  This  is  a  secret  which  the  world  ought  to 
have  disclosed  to  it,  whatever  it  may  cost.  No  miner  is 
unwilling  to  work  night  and  day,  if  only  gold  follows  his 
work.  The  very  mother,  in  the  midst  of  travail  and  anguish, 
rejoices,  forgets  her  pain,  because  a  man  child  is  born  into 
the  world.  No  man  counts  the  suffering  that  is  victorious 
in  the  end.  But  it  is  needful  that  the  world  should  under- 
stand that  religion  is  not  a  series  of  sufferings  which  are  in 
the  nature  of  a  price  paid  for  a  joy  by-and-by,  but  that  it  is 
a  revelation  of  God  to  this  world  of  that  higher  law  of  true 
manhood  which  carries  with  it,  now  and  forever  hereafter, 
the  highest  happiness  of  which  men  are  susceptible. 

I  declare  that  every  single  Christian  duty  laid  down 
carries  its  own  pleasure  in  it.  I  declare  that  if  men  want  to 
know  the  sources  and  secrets  of  the  highest  joy  they  will  find 
them  in  those  very  things  which  are  ordinarily  esteemed  as 
most  difficult  and  only  to  be  done  under  a  sense  of  duty — 
things  that  men  balance,  saying,  ' '  Shall  I  deny  myself,  or  be 
damned  ?  Well,  on  the  whole,  I'd  rather  deny  myself.  It's 
hard,  but  still  it's  better  to  pluck  off  my  right  hand  than  to 
go  to  helL"  And  so  they  consent  with  themselves  to  do 
things  that  are  painful,  onerous,  bitter,  disagreeable  in  every 
way,  revolting,  as  they  think,  to  nature ;  and  they  do  it  be- 
cause they  are  afraid,  if  they  do  not,  that  by-and-by  the 
settling  will  be  harder  than  they  can  bear. 

It  is  preeminently  desirable,  therefore,  that  men  should 


394  THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE. 

understand  that  whatever  may  seem  to  be  the  difficulties  and 
pains  attending  the  performance  of  Christian  duties,  they 
carry  in  themselves,  as  the  fruit  of  doing  them,  the  very 
reward  of  good.  They  are  not  so  hard  as  men  think  they 
are,  and  they  are  not  so  painful  as  the  devil  tempts  men  to 
think  they  are  ;  bub  they  are  as  full  of  joy  as  the  tree  of  life 
is  of  apples  that  are  shaken  down  over  the  head  of  the  world. 
It  is  a  misfortune  to  have  it  understood  that  righteous- 
ness is  sad  and  painful,  and  that  joy  and  hilarity  are  to  be 
sought  for  only  in  physical  life.  It  is  a  misfortune  to  have 
it  understood  that  sufferings  and  tears  and  mortifications 
belong  to  the  spiritual  life,  and  that  gayety  and  liberty  and 
joyfulness  belong  to  the  fleshly  life.  It  is  a  slander,  and  it  is 
a  slander  that  carries  detriment  and  damnation  to  uncounted 
thousands. 

When  our  Master  stood  in  the  midst  of  Palestine,  look- 
ing out  upon  the  currents  that  were  flowing,  sometimes 
north,  and  sometimes  south — the  various  impulses,  the  vari- 
ous ambitions,  the  various  lines  of  endeavor — he  saw  men 
fluctuating  from  right  to  left,  and  from  left  to  right,  all 
seeking  happiness ;  and  he,  as  it  were,  questioned  the  world 
and  the  men  that  were  in  it,  and  found  that  they  were 
barren  of  happiness.  Power  sought  it,  and  power  did  not 
find  it.  Eiches  sought  it,  and  riches  did  not  find  it. 
Vanity  sought  it,  and  it  was  not  in  vanity.  Men  sought  it 
in  the  flesh,  and  there  it  died.  Looking  at  all  the  ways  in 
which  men  sought  to  make  themselves  happy,  Christ  stood 
and  said,  "Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you, 
and  learn  of  me  ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart :  and  ye 
shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls."  All  the  world's  joy  is  but  a 
tantalization.  He  that  wants  tbe  peace  of  joy  cannot  find  it 
in  the  flesh,  nor  in  the  lower  social  life,  nor  in  the  merely 
intellectual  life,  but  in  the  realm  of  the  moral  life,  where 
true  divine  manhood  inheres.  Let  him  mount  there ; 
let  him  lay  the  lines  of  his  life  according  to  that  higher 
spiritual  wisdom,  and  he  shall  find  rest  unto  his  soul — for 
there  is  a  realm  in  the  soul  which  never  hears  the  tempest, 
nor  feels  the  thunder-shock ;  and  the  very  earthquake  may 


THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE.  395 

shake  and  roll  every  other  thing  and  not  disturb  the  settled 
peace  that  God  has  given  to  those  who  know  how  to  retreat 
to  the  innermost  divine  temple  of  the  soul  and -there  find  rest 
in  God. 

Consider,  now,  this  law  of  self-devotion,  or  this  law  of 
self-renunciation,  if  you  choose  to  call  it  so,  or  this  law  of 
self-sacrifice,  or  the  giving  up  of  yourself  for  the  benefit  of 
others — call  it  whatever  name  you  please.  It  strikes  every- 
body that  it  must  be  a  heroic  thing,  but  a  thing  which  the 
world  cannot  be  expected  to  find  or  to  practice.  Men  look 
upon  it  as  painful.  They  look  upon  it  as  necessary,  but 
necessary  just  as  surgery  is — not  because  they  laugh  when 
they  are  cut,  but  because  if  they  are  not  cut  by-and-by  they 
will  die  ;  and  rather  than  die  they  are  willing  to  suffer. 

So  men  say,  ' '  Yes,  we  are  willing  to  deny  ourselves,  to 
take  up  our  cross,  to  serve  other  men,  to  use  all  the  power  of 
our  being  for  the  happiness  and  comfort  of  our  fellow-men, 
looking  not  at  our  own  things."  The  trouble  is  that  they 
conceive  of  it  wrongly.  In  the  first  place  they  think  it  is 
ordering  them  into  a  realm  of  labor,  of  pain-bearing,  and 
storm-bearing,  and  they  do  not  understand  its  genius.  Then, 
in  the  next  place,  they  say,  "One  thing  I  do  know  prac- 
tically, and  that  is,  that  if  a  man  does  not  attend  to  his  own 
bnsiness  his  business  will  not  attend  to  him.  I  must  look 
after  myself ;  and  when  I  go  over  to  my  shop  or  my  store, 
and  you  tell  me,  'Now,  look  not  every  man  on  his  own 
things,  but  every  man  on  the  things  of  others/  that  is  just 
what  we  do — and  we  try  to  get  them  too."  Thus  they  per- 
vert to  selfishness  the  words  which  teach  the  largest  disin- 
terestedness. 

But  men  say,  "  Business  is  business ;  and  a  man  must 
take  care  of  himself.  The  law  of  self-preservation  and  of 
individual  responsibility  leads  him  to  do  this.  You  must 
look  after  yourself  or  nobody  will  look  after  you.  Do  you 
tell  me  that  I  must  live  a  life  of  self-renunciation  ?  It  is  the 
same  as  saying  that  I  must  seek  self-destruction.  Society 
could  not  stand  an  hour  if  that  were  to  be  the  principle  of 
action." 

Let  us,   then,  consider  this   a  little  more  at  the  root. 


396  THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE. 

When  you  look  at  the  animal  life  upon  the  globe  in  its 
lowest  stage,  you  will  see  that  the  lowest  form  of  animal 
life  has  but  two  substantial  functions.  One  is  self-preser- 
vation, and  the  other  is  propagation.  All  the  lower  forms 
of  animal  life  have  but  these  two  substantial  functions. 
That  is  their  law  to  themselves.  They  have  not  the  faculty 
for  anything  more.  Many  creations  below  them  have  not 
the  faculty  even  for  that ;  but  if  you  take  the  lion,  the 
tiger,  all  beasts  that  eat  and  flee  or  fight,  they  have 
talents  for  these  functions ;  but  to  organize  ideas,  or  to  form 
communities,  is  not  in  them.  They  have  not  the  aptitudes 
for  such  things.  The  law  of  the  lowest  life — the  life  of 
mere  flesh — is  to  take  care  of  self.  That  is  the  prime  end  of 
life  in  the  mere  physical  realm,  and  its  occupants  are  not 
equipped  for  anything  more  than  that. 

As  you  begin  to  rise  in  the  development  of  animal  life,  a 
new  element  comes  in — namely,  that  of  congregations  or  com- 
munities. Animals  begin,  as  they  are  more  largely  developed, 
to  live  together.  Now,  to  live  together,  in  its  nature,  im- 
plies the  thinking  of  one  animal  or  creature  of  another  ani- 
mal or  creature.  There  must  be  social  equation.  In  one  way 
or  another  that  must  be  established.  So,  in  the  progressive 
development  of  animal  life,  there  comes  in  something  more 
than  self-preservation ;  there  comes  in  the  power  of  social  ex- 
istence, which  implies,  more  or  less,  the  fitting  of  one  to  an- 
other, which  is  a  very  low  form  of  self-abnegation.  That  is, 
we  give  up  some  things  for  the  sake  of  some  other  things. 

So  society,  in  its  earliest  stages,  is  formed.  Men  come 
together  for  mutual  defense.  They  augment  power.  For 
there  must  be  intestine  government,  and  there  must  be  submis- 
sion thereto.  These  things  are  nascent  and  crude  ;  but,  never- 
theless, as  compared  with  the  state  of  the  animals  below 
them,  the  society  of  the  savages  in  this  world  is  an  immense 
growth  toward  development. 

But  as  you  go  still  higher,  you  will  find  not  only  that  this 
is  true,  but  that  there  comes  in  the  social,  as  distinguished  from 
this  animal  conservation.  There  is  developed  the  society  life 
of  the  household.  In  other  words,  even  in  savage  life  flowers 
blossom  here  and  there,  in  the  midst  of  rudeness  and  coarse- 


THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE.  397 

ness  and  cruelties  and  unutterable  degradations.  The 
golden  candlestick  begins  to  be  set  up  in  the  house,  and 
the  light  of  maternal  love  begins  to  shine  out.  There 
begin  to  be  the  seminal  forms  of  the  higher  life  in  which 
thinking  for  others,  caring  for  othero  and  doing  for  others, 
is  the  mainspring  of  a  person's  joy. 

In  the  lower  forms  of  development,  in  the  earlier  stages 
of  society,  the  bulk  of  the  pleasure  of  the  lower  animals  or 
creatures  in  it  is  physical.  To  eat,  to  drink,  to  sleep,  to  ex- 
perience pleasurable  sensations  of  a  physical  kind,  is  the 
highest  conception  that  they  can  have  of  happiness.  Then 
they  begin  to  find  happiness  in  the  exertion  of  them- 
selves in  war,  or  in  the  chase,  or  in  commerce,  which  feeds 
another  stronger  instinct.  First,  mere  physical  thrills  are 
pleasures.  Then  rude  strength  exerted,  and  the  sense  of 
the  superiority  of  man  over  man,  are  pleasures. 

But  even  in  this  realm  there  is  developed  a  still  finer 
element — namely,  that  of  heroism.  You  shall  never  find 
the  element  of  heroism  in  which  there  is  not  this  inherent 
quality — that  it  is  not  for  the  person's  own  self,  but 
for  another.  It  is  the  man  who  stands  on  his  own  thresh- 
old against  twenty  men,  and  slays  them  to  defend  his 
household ;  it  is  the  man  who,  when  the  safety  of  the  com- 
monwealth requires  some  one  to  go  into  the  gulf,  leaps  in 
and  perishes  ;  it  is  the  man  who  stands  for  his  country  or  for 
his  kind,  and  has  such  exaltation  of  sentiment  that  he  is  care- 
less of  self  or  forgets  himself — that  is  the  man  who  is  a  hero. 
It  is  only  the  man  who  rises  above  self  and  gives  himself  for 
others,  or  for  some  great  cause,  that  ever  knows  heroism,  and 
becomes  a  hero  in  poem  or  in  history. 

As  society  is  further  regenerated,  we  bcp'n  to  find  more 
and  more  that  the  pleasures  of  men  consist  in  pleasures 
which  they  produce  in  others.  There  is  a  low,  corrupt  form 
of  it  in  fashionable  society,  and  in  politeness  even.  "We  speak 
sweetly  to  men  because  it  makes  them  speak  sweetly  to  us. 
We  make  men  happy  because  we  know  that  they  must  pay 
their  debts,  and  make  us  happy.  This  is  a  low  form  of,  a 
rude  seeking  after,  an  important  principle  which  underlies 
the  very  genius  of  Christianity — namely,  that  your  happiness 


398  THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE. 

comes  from  making  other  people  happy — from  using  yourself 
for  the  welfare  of  others ;  but  the  essentially  heroic  nature  is 
shown  in  generosity,  in  devotion,  in  fidelity,  in  magna- 
nimity. 

Even  coarse,  rude  men  remember  the  sensations  of  a 
great  generosity  more  than  almost  any  others,  as  is  shown  by 
the  way  they  repeat  them  and  boast  of  them.  Men  have  a 
drunken  revel ;  and  the  wild  night  rages  till  the  morning 
dawns,  with  what  they  call  pleasure  ;  but  after  all,  when  one 
of  them  goes  out  at  daybreak,  somewhat  sobered,  and  hears 
a  cry  of  distress,  and,  following  it,  sees  a  woman  set  upon  by 
brutal  villains,  and  thrusts  himself,  without  a  question,  into 
the  affray,  and  makes  her  case  his  own,  and  with  high  con- 
flict and  some  wounds  smites  them  down,  and  slays  them, 
and  delivers  her,  a  thousand  nights  of  debauch  are  forgotten, 
and  that  one  act  of  heroism,  in  which  he  put  life  and  power 
and  everything  magnanimously  at  stake  for  an  unknown  per- 
son, he  never  forgets. 

Nay,  where,  if  you  were  to  look,  would  you  expect  to  find 
the  greatest  happiness  in  this  world  ?  I  think  the  old  miser 
is  happy.  Happy  ?  Yes,  just  as  boys  are  that  make  music 
on  old  tin  pans.  When  I  was  a  boy  I  drummed  on  the  old 
meal-chest,  and  to  me  it  was  music  that  I  made ;  but  the 
word  came  to  me,  '"Stop  that  noise  !"  and  I  marveled  at  the 
want  of  taste  in  men  with  regard  to  such  things. 

There  are  joys  of  various  kinds — joys  of  avarice,  joys  of 
dissipation,  joys  of  ambition,  joys  of  vanity.  It  is  absurd  to 
say  that  there  is  no  pleasure  in  these  things.  If  there  was 
not,  the  whole  world  would  not  go  after  them.  But,  after 
all,  where  is  there  the  most  joy  ?  You  know  just  as  well  as 
I  do  that  not  the  most  resplendent  things,  not  the  things 
that  are  the  most  reported,  are  the  most  joy-producing.  You 
know,  taking  all  things  together,  that  there  is  more  joy  in 
home  than  anywhere  else.  The  mother,  singing  by  her 
cradle  side,  does  not  care  that  routs  and  parties  are  going 
on  in  the  community.  Her  babe  is  more  to  her  than  all  the 
pleasures  that  could,  be  shed  upon  her  from  all  the  resplen- 
dent gatherings  in  the  world.  And  what  is  her  babe  to  her  ? 
A  burden.  Yes ;  but  it  is  one  of  those  burdens  which  are 


THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE.  399 

light.  What  is  it  ?  A  yoke  of  servitude.  Yes ;  but  it  is  an 
easy  yoke.  What  is  her  babe  to  her  ?  A  remunerator  ?  It 
does  not  even  know  her.  It  does  not  understand  a  word  she 
says.  She  carries  it  in  her  bosom  all  night.  It  eats  her.  It 
is  her  jailej.  It  shuts  her  up  in  the  house.  It  takes  her 
from  a  thousand  habits  and  accustomed  ways  of  life.  Dress 
no  longer  seems  comely  to  her.  Friendships  are  all  swal- 
lowed up  in  this  object  of  her  care  and  affection.  She  gives 
her  life  to  it,  making  it  new  day  and  night.  She  pours  her 
life  out  on  the  most  helpless  of  things  that  lives  on  God's 
globe.  And  she  is  the  happiest  creature !  She  never  seems  to 
herself  so  happy  as  when,  with  her  healthy  child,  she  sits,  and 
it  croons,  and  she  sings.  Her  happiness  consists  in  emptying 
herself,  and  in  pouring  everything  that  is  sweet  and  beautiful 
and  noble  in  womanhood  into  this  unconscious  receptacle — 
her  little  child. 

Look  at  the  whole  household  life.  When  there  are  six  or 
eight  unlicked  cubs  running  about  the  house  there  is  some 
racket,  and  there  are  some  crosses  to  bear ;  but  is  there  any- 
thing in  this  world  that  men  look  back  to  so  much  as  to  the 
old  home  ?  They  remember  it  for  some  reasons,  and  for 
others ;  but,  after  all,  with  its  instructions,  with  its  regula- 
tions, with  its  restraints,  with  its  "No's,"  with  its  "You 
shall's,"  and  with  everything  else,  it  is  the  Eden  of  a  man's 
memory.  And  when  old  age  makes  men's  hands  quiver, 
after  they  have  gone  through  u  long  life,  they  have  forgotten 
almost  everything  but  home.  That  they  remember,  even  to 
the  moss  on  the  bucket,  and  to  the  weather-stain  on  the  old 
wall ;  and  father  and  mother  live  even  when  God  is  for- 
gotten, so  strong  is  the  impression  of  the  household. 

Now,  the  household  is  the  only  place  on  earth  where, 
regularly,  and  by  the  force  of  nature,  men  live  self-sacrificing 
and  self-renouncing  lives.  You  talk  to  me  of  heroism ;  and 
what  is  heroism  but  a  spark  from  the-  household,  taken  and 
carried  out  and  made  into  a  flame  at  large  in  life  ?  What  a 
mother  does  every  day  of  her  life  nobody  celebrates  ;  but  let 
her  do  that  on  a  sphere  as  large  as  the  world's  sight,  and 
then  she  is  a  heroine.  Grace  Darling,  to  save  an  unknown 
person,  became  heroic ;  but  a  mother  gives  herself  with  a 


400  THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRTFICE. 

thousand  times  more  pain-bearing,  in  obscurity,  to  save  one, 
two,  or  three  children.  It  is  common  ;  and  the  simple  want 
of  publicity  does  not  make  it  less  heroic.  Heroism  is  cheap. 
It  is  so  abundant  in  the  family  that  we  do  not  think  of  it. 
Self-renunciation — bold,  cheerful,  ample,  continuous — we  see 
it  all  the  time  in  the  household ;  we  admire  it ;  it  enriches 
our  nature ;  it  is  magnificent ;  and  if  the  poet,  like  Tenny- 
son, can  sing  it  so  that  all  the  world  hears  it,  it  is  heroic. 
If  any  one  outside  of  the  family  does  the  same  thing  for  his 
country,  it  raises  the  stock  of  human  life  immensely.  Thus 
that  which  is  common  in  the  family,  outside  of  the  family 
makes  a  man  a  hero. 

Who  would  not,  for  those  he  loves,  do  anything,  bear  any- 
thing, suffer  anything  ?  What  is  there  that  is  hard  to  bear 
if  one  only  loves  enough  ?  Why  is  it  that  men  lie  still  and 
cannot  make  headway  ?  Why  is  it  that  so  many  are  bound, 
and  cannot  make  sail  ?  It  is  because  the  ocean  of  love  is 
run  out,  and  they  are  stuck  in  the  mud  of  the  lower  life  of 
selfishness.  But  when  the  tide  comes  back  of  a  noble,  gen- 
erous, loving  spirit,  which  is  always  self-renunciating  and 
self-sacrificing,  then  men  are  lifted  up  from  the  shallows  on 
which  they  are  lying,  and  they  make  their  voyage  of  life 
easily. 

When,  therefore,  men  carry  out  into  the  world-life  the 
words  and  deeds  of  the  household,  they  are  praised  and 
looked  upon  as  happy.  Yea,  there  is  many  a  selfish,  envious, 
proud,  stingy,  cold,  coarse  man,  who,  looking  upon  some 
generous  devoted  act,  says,  "My  God  !  if  I  could  only  do 
such  a  thing  as  that  I  should  be  happy ! "  0  yes,  so  you 
would ;  there  is  no  doubt  about  that ;  but  you  will  not  do  it. 
Men  will  not  cultivate  the  moods  out  of  which  such  actions 
are  developed. 

I  give  these  illustrations  to  show  you  that  the  essential 
nature  of  self -sacrifice -is  not  pain-bearing;  that  it  is  not  an 
impossible  thing ;  that  it  is  an  interpretation  of  the  higher 
nature  ;  that  it  is  following,  in  this  animal  sphere,  one  of  the 
great  secrets  and  principles  of  eternal  manhood,  of  spiritual 
life — namely,  that  they  who  have  learned  how  to  live  for 
others  have  learned,  too,  how  to  live  as  God  lives,  and 


THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE.  401 

heaven  lives,  and  the  universe  lives,  and  therefore  how  to  live 
happily.  I  have  illustrated  it  by  calling  your  attention  to  the 
fact  that,  as  in  the  household  life  of  men  God  has  ordained 
such  living  on  a  low  plane,  and  in  a  comparatively  narrow 
sphere,  the  observation  of  it  there  will  show  that  the  inherent 
nature  of  self-renunciation  is  pleasure,  not  pain,  and  that  it 
brings  joy,  not  sorrow. 

I  do  not  like  to  have  men  misinterpret  what  is  going  on 
before  their  eye?.  I  hear  men  say,  "Is  it  not  strange  that 
that  dried-up  soul  should  have  everything,  almost,  given  to 
him,  in  life, — houses,  lands,  all  that  heart  could  wish, — while 
Kossuth,  that  heroic  man  whose  name  the  world  will  never 
let  die  till  the  memory  has  perished,  is  an  exile,  is  living  far 
from  his  native  land  and  his  friends,  and  is  a  wanderer?" 
Let  me  tell  you  that  your  pity  is  not  needed.  If  I  were  to 
go  to  Italy  and  search  for  the  happiest  man  that  lives  there, 
probably  I  should  take  Louis  Kossuth,  whose  soul  is  fed  on 
noble  thoughts,  whose  life  has  been  consecrated  to  sacrifice ; 
because  he  who  knows  how  to  easily  give  up  all  has  inherited 
all,  on  the  principle  which  Christ  enunciated  when  he  said 
of  his  disciples,  that  if  they  gave  up  everything  to  follow  him, 
they  should  inherit  all  things.  He  who  knows  how  to  serve 
gloriously  is  always  served  gloriously.  He  that  gives  from 
his  lower  life  is  paid  in  the  augmentation  of  his  higher  life. 

You  know  very  well  that  I  do  not  believe  in  a  technical 
theology  which  teaches  us  that  man  fell  from  a  high  state  of 
perfection  :  on  the  contrary,  I  believe  that  he  began  at  the 
bottom,  and  never  had  any  altitude  to  fall  from ;  that  he  has 
been  working  his  way  up,  through  historic  periods,  all  the 
time  ;  and  that  there  is  a  point  at  which,  having  been  an  ani- 
mal, he  becomes  a  spiritual  being.  I  do  not  mean  to  give  my 
faith  to  the  theory  that  he  was  ever  a  brute,  absolutely ;  I  do 
not  commit  myself  to  such  an  idea  as  that  at  all ;  but  I  do 
believe  that  the  human  race,  as  a  race,  began  its  career  on 
the  earth  at  the  lowest  conceivable  seminal  point  at  which  a 
human  race  can  exist,  and  that  everything  that  they  have 
gained  they  have  gained  by  gradual  unfolding,  evolution  and 
education.  Living  on  the  flesh  plane,  they  acted  according 
to  the  law  of  self-defense,  and  everything  was  for  me.  On 


402  THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE. 

the  next  higher  plane,  almost  everything  was  for  Me,  but 
something  was  for  You,  for  the  sake  of  keeping  you  peaceable 
with  me.  On  the  still  higher  plane  of  civility  and  patriotism 
and  heroism,  they  lived  more  largely  for  others,  but  mostly 
yet  for  Me.  But  when  they  came  to  the  spiritual  plane,  out 
broke  the  divine  principle,  and  they  lived  no  longer  for  the 
lower  animal  nature,  or  for  the  social  nature,  with  a  small 
distribution  of  self,  nor  even  for  a  patriotic  sentiment,  with 
a  large  and  more  heroic  distribution  of  self ;  they  came  into 
that  spirit  in  which  they  lived  for  others. 

That  is  God.  It  is  the  revelation  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ, 
who,  though  he  was  made  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not 
robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  but  made  himself  of  no  repu- 
tation, and  took  upon  himself  the  form  of  a  servant,  and 
was  made  in  the  likeness  of  men ;  and  being  found  in  fashion 
as  a  man,  he  humbled  himself,  and  became  obedient  unto 
death,  and  not  only  that,  but  the  most  ignominious  death, 
the  death  of  the  cross.  Wherefore  God  hath  highly  exalted 
him.  God,  by  that  everlasting  decree  on  which  the  universe 
stands ;  God,  by  the  inscrutable  law  which  runs  through  all 
eternity,  exalted  him — the  law  that  he  who  gives  most  is 
highest,  and  that  he  who  keeps  back  most  is  lowest.  He 
that  would  be  chief,  let  him  be  your  slave  ;  he  that  would  go 
up,  let  him  come  down — that  is  the  law :  not  a  special  and 
arbitrary  enactment  of  Christianity ;  not  a  special  and  arbi- 
trary duty  imposed  by  the  church,  but  a  decree  brought  into 
the  world  first  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  race  had  so 
far  risen,  when  the  fullness  of  times  came,  that  it  was  pos- 
sible to  develop  higher  forms  of  life  in  which  a  new  kingdom 
was  to  break  out  with  effulgence  and  glory  ;  and  here  was  a 
revelation  of  it.  That  law  is,  Use  the  whole  power  of  your 
life  for  other  men.  So  you  shall  harmonize  your  own  life, 
and  fill  it  with  blessedness. 

"  Take  my  yoke  and  my  burden,"  says  Christ ;  "  they  are 
light,  and  they  are  easy,  and  they  shall  bring  rest  to  your 
souls."  Live  for  yourselves,  and  you  fret;  live  for  others, 
and  all  goes  smoothly.  Live  for  yourselves  and  you  moan, 
you  are  dissatisfied,  you  are  despondent,  you  are  filled  with 
pinings  and  conflicts  and  jealousies  ;  live  for  others,  give  up 


THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE.  493 

all  Hiing.s  to  God  and  to  mankind,  and  count  yourself  but  an 
accumulated  force  under  the  law  of  love,  and  life  will  be 
bright  above,  and  bright  beneath,  and  bright  in  the  eternal 
future. 

And  now,  to-day,  we  are  going  to  celebrate,  for  the  last 
time  this  summer,  and  peradventure  for  the  last  time  on 
earth,  the  Lord's  Supper.  Who  may  come  and  take  it  ?  To 
whom  is  it  offered  ?  For  whom  is  it  ?  What  is  it  ?  It  is 
bread  for  the  hungry  that  stands  here  to-day,  saying,  "I 
represent  God."  What  is  it?  It  is  the  crushed  cluster  in 
these  cups  that  stand  here  to-day,  saying,  "I  am  Jehovah." 
It  is  that  which  sets  forth  to  men  the  giving  up  of  all  things 
for  others.  That  is  the  divine  ideal.  That  is  the  conception 
of  God,  who  lives,  not  to  be  the  center  of  the  universe,  hav- 
ing all  things  flow  in,  as  into  a  mighty  vortex,  toward  him. 
God  sits  throwing  out  everywhere,  like  the  sun,  light  and 
warmth  and  power;  and  he  represents  himself  by  the  loaf 
and  crushed  cluster,  saying,  "As  the  loaf  feeds  others  and 
not  itself,  and  fulfills  its  nature  in  giving  food  and  strength 
to  others,  so  do  I  eternally  give  myself  to  others."  As  the 
cluster  gives  its  life,  its  very  innermost  blood,  that  others 
may  be  cheered,  itself  being  destroyed,  but  gloriously  reap- 
pearing in  those  that  are  helped,  so  it  symbolizes  the  nature 
of  the  God  of  all  grace  and  all  joy.  Oh,  how  blessed  to  be 
God,  if  that  means  to  be  forever,  and  with  infinite  circles, 
joy  upon  joy — joy,  not  in  the  form  of  abstract  raptures,  that 
roll  like  airs  through  the  atmosphere,  but  joy  by  exalting 
men,  by  ennobling  them,  by  sanctifying  men,  by  teaching 
them  a  nobler  manhood,  and  waiting  till  they  grow  up  into 
it  by  the  divine  power  ol  inshining,  and  so  making  them 
joyful  here  preparatory  to  the  outburst  of  eternal  joy  there. 

Now,  who  may  come  to  this  table  ?  "I  was  baptized  in 
my  youth  ;  my  parents  were  Christians  ;  they  brought  me  up 
in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord  ;  I  was  catechized 
up  and  down  and  crosswise  ,  I  know  the  catechism  from  end 
to  end,  and  I  believe  it— the  Westminster  Catechism,  I  mean ; 
and  I  have  always  been  accustomed  to  the  house  of  God."  It 
is  said  that  knowledge  puffeth  up.  I  do  not  ask  you  to  come 
if  that  is  all  the  reason  you  have.  "  But  I  belong  to  the  true 


404  THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE. 

church.  Jesus  Christ  founded  the  church,  and  ordained 
great  officers  in  it,  and  empowered  them  to  forgive  sins,  and 
I  have  had  priestly  remission  and  absolution  ;  and  therefore 
I  have  a  right  to  come. "  If  all  you  have  is  from  the  touch 
of  man's  hand,  however  sacred  and  reverend,  I  do  not  invite 
you  to  come.  I  do  not  give  this  invitation  to  a  churchman, 
or  to  a  member  of  the  church  ;  I  do  not  give  it  to  those  who 
are  moral ;  I  do  not  give  it  to  those  who  respect  the  services 
of  religion,  and  mean  to  do  something  toward  supporting 
them  in  the  community.  But  if  there  be  any  soul,  in  the 
church  or  out  of  the  church,  that  has  been  touched  with 
priestly  hands,  or  that  has  never  been  touched  with  priestly 
hands,  but  that  believes  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thinks 
it  is  a  glorious  thing  to  be  God,  and  do  good,  and  spread  joy 
and  goodness  throughout  the  universe — if  there  be  any  soul 
that  is  kindled  in  the  light  of  God's  inspiration,  and  says, 
"I,  too,  want  to  live  in  that  way,"  that  soul  I  invite.  But 
there  is  much  for  you  to  overcome  before  you  can  do  it ;  and 
you  must  fight  the  battle  for  yourself ;  saying,  "  If  God  will 
help  me  I  will  fight  that  battle."  Are  there  those  who  say, 
"I  am  conscious  of  my  infirmities  of  temper,  and  of  im- 
moralities of  life,  but  I  see  what  the  higher  life  is,  and  by 
the  help  of  God  I  will  live  toward  it,  and  will  from  this  hour 
endeavor  to  consecrate  myself  to  the  welfare  of  men,  as  God 
consecrates  himself  to  my  welfare ;  I  will  give  my  life,  as 
far  as  I  know  how  to  give  it,  for  the  good  of  others ;  I  will 
renounce  selfishness  and  I  will  embrace  benevolence,  because 
it  is  his  command"  ?  Now  come  and  ratify  that  vow.  As 
you  take  the  bread,  and  as  it  gives  you  strength,  determine 
in  yourself  that  your  life  shall  be  as  a  loaf  to  others,  and  that 
you  will  give  your  strength  to  them.  As  you  take  the  wine 
that  exhilarates,  pray  that  all  the  power  which  is  in  you  may 
be  as  courage  to  the  discouraged,  and  consolation  to  the  dis- 
consolate^  If  you  are  willing  to  consecrate  all  your  power  of 
body  and  soul  to  the  welfare  of  your  fellow-men,  I  ask  you  to 
come.  I  ask  you  not  because  you  are  sinless — you  are  very 
sinful;  not  because  you  do  your  whole  duty — you  fall  far 
short  of  your  whole  duty :  I  invite  you  to  come  because, 
realizing  your  sinfulness,  and  your  imperfect  performance  of 


THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE.  405 

duty,  you  are  striving  to  overcome  your  sins  and  fulfill  your 
duty ;  and  1  invoke  on  you  the  spirit  of  God  ;  and  if  you  per- 
severe you  will  find  that  you  are  advancing  from  class  to  class. 
As  you  rise  from  the  primary  school  to  the  academy,  from  the 
academy  to  the  college,  and  from  the  college  to  the  profes- 
sional school,  so,  in  the  Christian  life,  if  you  are  faithful, 
you  will  advance  in  the  higher  way  of  living  for  others,  until 
you  have  become  like  Christ,  and  understand  more  and  more 
of  him,  and  return  with  larger  and  larger  power  of  peace 
find  gentleness  and  goodness,  and  pour  it  out  on  the  unlovely 
and  upon  the  unworthy,  and  until  you  have  this  testimony  in 
yourself :  "  By  the  grace  of  God  I  live,  not  for  myself,  but 
for  others."  Then,  in  that  spirit,  when  death  comes,  it 
opens  the  ears  to  the  eternal  rapture,  it  gives  to  the  heart 
eternal  life,  and  it  brings  you,  with  your  introduction  writ- 
ten in  your  own  soul,  into  the  presence  of  God  and  joying 
angels. 


406  THE  DELIGHT!  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE. 


PKAYEK  BEFORE  THE  SERMON.* 

WE  rejoice,  O  Lord  Jesus,  that  by  the  power  of  thy  name  men  still 
are  called  from  death  to  life,  that  by  faith  of  thee  joy  takes  posses- 
sion of  sorrow,  that  hope  is  more  than  fear,  and  that  there  is  victory 
even  in  defeat.  We  rejoice  that  all  the  streams  of  human  affairs— 
the  temptations  of  pleasure,  the  power  of  pride,  the  organized  forces 
of  human  life — are  not  so  much  as  the  power  of  thy  Spirit;  that 
thou  dost  still,  against  the  world  and  against  all  its  seductions,  bring 
forth  children  unto  thyself,  redeeming  them  from  thrall,  creating  in 
them  new  hearts,  and  giving  them  a  new  spirit  filled  with  love,  with 
joy,  with  hope  and  with  patience;  that  finally  thou  dost  carry  them 
forward  to  the  very  end ;  and  that  having  loved  thine  own,  thou  dost 
love  them  to  the  end. 

To  thy  holy  care  and  keeping  we  commit  the  beloved  ones  who 
have  been  brought  into  this  household  of  faith.  We  ask  not  that 
their  faith  may  always  be  one  of  light  or  one  of  ease,  but  that  thou 
wilt  grant  to  them  the  secret  of  songs  in  the  night,  of  light  inward 
where  there  is  outward  darkness,  and  strength  to  endure  hardness  as 
good  soldiers  when  thou  dost  lead  them  in  a  strait  and  narrow 
way.  We  pray  that  their  life  may  not  be  hid  except  in  Christ.  May 
they  shine  forth  upon  the  world  that  which  they  learn  of  him.  We 
pray  that  they  may  be  made  fruitful  in  their  spheres  of  labor.  And 
as  thou  hast  appointed  to  them  severally,  grant  that  they  may  adorn 
both  the  doctrine  of  Christ  and  the  name  of  the  Saviour,  by  bearing 
his  Spirit  among  men. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  thy  blessing  to  rest  upon  the  great 
brotherhood ;  and  more  and  more  wilt  thou  be  with  every  member  of 
this  church — with  each  one  in  his  own  personal  experiences,  in  his 
trials,  in  his  secret,  inward,  hidden  life,  known  only  to  God.  Grant 
that  there  may  be  breathed  upon  the  very  springs  of  action  the 
sanctifying  influences  of  the  divine  Spirit. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  bless  all  of  us  in  our  household  life.  More 
and  more  may  we  learn  of  God  by  the  interpretation  of  our  daily 
experiences.  More  and  more  may  our  love,  our  friendship,  our  life 
be  sanctified,  that  it  may  reflect  upon  us  the  truths  of  the  eternal 
world.  Grant  that  all  the  members  of  this  church,  in  their  outgoing 
and  incoming,  in  their  various  and  appropriate  duties  in  society  at 
large,  may  bear  in  them  a  true  manliness.  May  they  have  that  man- 
hood which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  We  beseech  of  thee  that  they  may 
have  force,  and  enterprise,  and  victorious  accomplishment  in  the 
things  whereunto  they  set  their  hand.  May  they  be  diligent  in  busi- 
ness and  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord.  And  grant  that  they 
may  serve  thee,  not  alone  in  their  thoughts  in  the  household  and  in 
the  church,  but  in  their  business,  so  that  everywhere  they  may  be 
witnesses  for  Him  who  loved  them,  and  who  gave  himself  for  them. 
We  pray  that  their  spirit  may  be  so  guided  and  so  disciplined  as  that 
they  shall  make  known  to  men  by  their  unconscious  life,  even  more 
than  by  their  words,  what  is  the  secret  of  God  with  men.  We  pray 

*  Immediately  following'  the  reception  of  members  into  the  church. 


THE  DELIGHT  OF  SELF-SACRIFICE.  40? 

that  thou  wilt  comfort  them  in  any  trial  which  may  come  upon 
them. 

Be  near  to  any,  we  beseech  of  thee,  who  are  sitting  in  darkness, 
and  in  great  trouble.  May  the  Lord  be  their  counsellor.  And  grant 
that  there  may  be  for  them,  not  day  and  night,  but  perpetual  day; 
for  where  thou  art  no  darkness  can  dwell.  Where  thou  art  there  can 
be  no  weakness.  Where  thou  art  is  peace  which  the  world  never 
gives,  and  which  the  world  cannot  take  away. 

Grant,  we  beseech  of  thee,  that  if  there  come  up  any  trouble,  sud- 
den, great,  and  hard  to  be  borne,  they  may  be  strengthened  in  their 
emergencies,  not  to  forsake  their  faith  in  their  Saviour. 

Be  near  to  the  sick ;  and  be  near  to  those  who  watch  with  them,  in 
all  the  alternations  of  day  and  night,  with  fear.  Wilt  thou  strengthen 
them  day  by  day ;  and  may  their  trust  in  God  never  fail  them. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  be  with  those  who  are  perplexed  in  busi- 
ness. Be  with  those  whom  care  rests  upon  heavily. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  be  with  the  Israel  of  God  everywhere. 
Wilt  thou  be  in  the  hearts  of  all  thy  people  continually  immovable. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  bless  the  churches  that  are  this  day 
assembled  in  this  city,  and  in  the  great  city  near  us,  and  throughout 
all  our  land.  We  rejoice  that  there  are  so  many,  and  that  there  is  so 
much  power  in  them.  If  there  be  such  error  of  thought  and  teaching 
as  diminishes  the  power  in  any,  we  pray  that  by  thy  Spirit  they  may 
be  guided  into  a  more  perfect  knowledge  of  thy  truth.  Bless  even 
the  fragments  of  truth  everywhere,  so  that  whether  Christ  be 
preached  of  contention  or  in  earnest,  he  may  still  be  made  known  to 
man,  and  blessed  to  the  salvation  of  their  souls. 

We  pray  for  those  who  labor  for  the  promotion  of  intelligence. 
We  pray  for  those  who  are  installed  in  places  of  great  influence.  We 
pray  for  all  presidents  of  colleges,  for  all  professors,  and  for  all 
teachers  of  academies  and  common  schools.  We  pray  for  those  who 
write  books,  and  for  those  who  are  editing  papers,  and  sending  them 
forth  as  leaves  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  throughout  this  land.  May 
they  be  guided  by  the  inspiration  of  God. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  that  intelligence  may  not  disjoin 
itself  from  virtue,  but  that  knowledge  may  lead  to  that  righteousness 
which  shall  make  men  perfect  before  thee. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thy  kingdom  may  come,  not  alone  in  this 
favored  land,  but  in  all  lands.  We  pray  for  peace.  We  pray  that 
those  evils  from  which  discontent  and  discord  have  sprung  may  be 
abated.  O  Lord,  we  pray  that  nations  may  learn  war  no  more,  and 
that  they  may  cease  to  live  in  their  animal  nature.  Grant  that  men 
may  no  longer  be  as  lions,  and  eagles,  and  beasts  of  destruction : 
mako  the  power  of  men  to  reside  in  their  goodness  of  heart  and  in 
their  intelligence  and  virtue.  So  may  the  day  of  ignorance  and 
superstition  and  violence  pass  away,  and  cruelties  cease  to  exist  upon 
the  earth.  And  grant  that  that  great  and  glorious  day  may  speedily 
come  when  Christ  shall  take  to  himself  his  power,  ajd  rule  over  the 
earth  as  he  rules  in  the  heaven.  Even  so,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly. 
And  to  thy  name  shall  be  the  praise,  Fainer,  Son,  and  Spirit 
Amen. 


TRUTH-SPEAKING. 


"Wherefore,  putting  away  lying,  speak  every  man  the  truth 
with  his  neighbor:  for  we  are  members  one  of  another." — Eph.  iv.,  25. 


Deceit  is  the  sign  of  inferiority.  It  runs  toward  animal 
conditions  of  life.  It  is  the  sign  of  weakness.  In  the  order 
of  nature,  that  which  cannot  be  done  by  discretion  nor  by 
strength,  animals  do  by  craft,  by  deceit ;  and  in  the  lower 
stages  of  human  development  deceit  is  common  :  and  under 
such  circumstances  it  does  not  take  on,  either  to  them  or  to 
us,  the  heinousness  of  guilt  to  the  degree  that  it  does  after 
men  have  been  civilized. 

In  other  words,  we  tolerate,  in  the  lower  stage  of  moral 
development,  things  which  become  intolerable  in  the  higher 
stage  of  moral  development.  We  see  in  the  old  patriarchs 
instances  of  cunning  and  deceit  which  would  absolutely  ruin 
the  reputation  of  men  in  our  times  who  were  of  a  correspond- 
ing rank  in  life.  They  were  blemishes ;  but  the  gravity  of 
the  offense  is  tempered  in  our  judgment  by  the  circum- 
stances, by  the  small  knowledge,  by  the  few  helps  which 
surrounded  those  men. 

I  propose,  to-night,  to  speak  some  wholesome  words  on  a 
subject  which  once  was  considered  worthy  of  a  good  deal  of 
instruction,  and  some  practice — namely,  the  subject  of  truth- 
speaking. 

To  "speak  every  man  truth  with  his  neighbor"  is  a  duty 
and  doctrine  of  Christianity.  Lying  is  in  terms  forbidden. 

SUNDAY  EVENING,  May  17, 1874.   LESSON  :  Prov.  «.,  1-22.  HYMNS  (Plymouth  Col- 
lection) :  X"8.  102,  513.  B57. 


412  TRUTH-SPEAKINQ. 

"Lie  not  one  to  another,  since  ye  have  put  off  the  old  man 
with  his  deeds,"  as  well  as,  "Speak  every  man  the  truth  with 
his  neighbor,"  is  express  and  explicit. 

No  man  can  be  a  truth-speaker  in  the  sense  of  the  New 
Testament  teaching  unless  he  has  fully  made  up  his  mind  to 
the  intention  of  telling  the  truth — and  that,  not  sometimes, 
but  always.  When  a  man  is  determined  to  be  a  truth- 
speaker,  and  to  reflect,  as  far  as  he  reflects  anything,  things 
as  they  are,  between  man  and  man,  then  it  is  not  always 
possible  for  him  to  tell  the  truth  ;  because  it  requires  a  great 
deal  of  knowledge  to  tell  the  truth,  and  it  requires  no  incon- 
siderable amount  of  practice.  It  is  an  education  both  to 
know  what  is  true,  and  to  know  how  far  to  speak,  and  how 
far  to  be  silent.  For,  telling  the  truth  is  not  random  talk- 
ing. It  is  an  administration  which  requires  an  understanding 
and  interpreting  moral  sense,  and  no  inconsiderable  amount 
of  practice  and  skill  in  the  affairs  of  life.  He  who  discerns 
things  aright,  and  knows  times  and  seasons,  and  the  fitness 
of  matters,  and  speaks  invariably  the  simplicity  of  truth,  has 
well  nigh  completed  his  warfare  with  himself,  and  with  the 
world,  and  may  be  counted,  as  James  says,  "a  perfect  man," 
because  he  bridles  his  tongue. 

No  man  can  be  a  truth-speaker  who  does  not  love  the 
truth  ;  to  whom  truth  is  not  as  to  a  musician's  ear  chords 
are  ;  with  whose  nature  it  does  not  harmonize.  It  is  impos- 
sible for  men  to  speak  the  truth  occasionally  with  any  consid- 
erable degree  of  success  unless  they  speak  it  habitually,  for 
the  love  of  it ;  unless  they  love  it,  as  is  expressed  elsewhere, 
"in  the  inward  parts." 

The  habit  of  speaking  the  truth  implies  a  whole  cast  of 
life.  I  have  said  that  it  belongs  to  an  ideal  manhood.  More 
than  that,  it  will  symmetrize  the  man  around  a  divine  centre. 
For,  as  soon  as  a  man  has  made  up  his  mind  always  to  speak 
the  thing  that  is  true,  he  will  not  speak  near  as  much  as 
otherwise  he  would  be  apt  to.  "  In  the  multitude  of  words, 
there  wanteth  not  sin,"  we  are  told  ;  and  there  is  a  great  deal 
too  much  talking  in  this  world,  considering  what  stuff  it  is 
made  up  of.  Men  who  catch  what  they  hear  easily — too 
easily;  men  who  hear  everything  that  is  said  about  every- 


TRUTH-SPEAKINQ.  413 

body,  and  who  go  to  and  fro  among  their  fellows — such 
men,  if  they  love  the  truth,  and  mean  to  speak  it,  will 
become  very  cautious  as  to  how  they  repeat  things  or  say 
things  that  they  do  not  know  to  be  true.  A  restraining  in- 
fluence will  be  exercised  upon  their  tongue,  making  it  cir- 
cumspect, wise  of  discourse,  and  accurate  of  statement. 

Not  only  will  the  determination  to  speak  the  truth  make 
men  cautious,  often  leading  them  to  take  refuge  in  silence, 
but  it  will  naturally  tend  to  make  them  reflective.  It  in- 
duces men  to  study  things  which  come  to  the  mind  in  the 
nature  of  cause  and  effect.  Is  it  best  ?  Is  it  kind  ?  Would 
it  do  good  ?  Silence  is  usually  safe.  Speech  is  not  always 
safe. 

He  who  means  to  speak  the  truth  knowing  that  it  may 
wound,  that  it  may  injure,  and  becomes  thoughtful  of  the 
result,  studying  the  relation  of  cause  to  effect,  is  a  truth- 
speaker. 

But  more  than  that,  since  he  who  speaks  the  truth  must 
needs  speak  of  himself  and  of  his  own  affairs  continually,  if  he 
has  entered  into  covenant  with  his  own  soul  that  he  will  speak 
that  which  is  true  if  he  speaks  at  all,  that  determination, 
foregoing  and  habitual,  will  have  a  great  influence  in  keeping 
his  thoughts  of  life  such  that  he  will  dare  to  speak  the  truth. 

Men  do  things  in  privacy  which  they  never  would  think 
of  doing  in  public.  Men  do  things  away  from  home  that 
you  could  not  persuade  them  to  do  at  home.  When  out 
from  under  the  inspection  of  their  fellows,  men  live 
much  more  loosely  (they  think  more  largely,  but  I  think 
more  loosely,)  than  they  do  at  other  times;  and  if  a  man  is 
to  speak  the  truth,  he  cannot  well  afford  to  be  other  than  an 
honorable,  straightforward,  right- meaning,  fair,  man ;  so  that 
the  determination  of  a  man  to  speak  the  truth  very  soon 
begins  to  have  a  reactionary  influence  upon  him. 

Let  any  man  begin  life  with  the  conceit  that  he  is  a  man 
of  force,  and  that  he  can  use  truth  as  an  instrument,  parrying 
with  it,  piercing  with  it,  defending  himself  with  it,  handling 
it  as  a  skillful  man  would  handle  cards,  playing  them  as  he 
pleases,  and  the  reactionary  influence  upon  his  disposition  is 
to  the  last  degree  mischievous.  On  the  other  hand,  let  a 


414  TRUTH-SPEARING. 

man  begin  life  with  the  purpose,  "  So  far  as  -in  me  lies,  so 
far  as  I  can  discern  what  is  truth,  I  will  either  be  silent  or  I 
will  speak  that  which  is  true,"  and  it  produces  a  prodigious 
moral  restraint  upon  him,  and  alters  the  genius  of  his  life, 
the  whole  shape  and  purpose  of  his  education,  and  the  con- 
duct of  affairs.  So  that  a  man  who  means  to  use  the  truth 
runs  in  spirals,  and  is  always  crooked,  whether  going  back- 
ward or  forward  ;  whereas  the  man  who  means  to  speak  the 
thing  that  is  true  goes  in  right  lines,  is  a  righteous  man. 

The  simple  quality  of  truth-speaking  is  not  that  it  is  con- 
venient. In  his  talking  a  man  will  find  very  soon  that  to 
speak  the  truth  requires  that  he  should  do  a  great  deal  more 
— that  he  should  think  better,  that  he  should  feel  better,  and 
that  he  should  purpose  better  things. 

As  one  who  sits  where  all  men,  going  by  and  looking 
through  the  door  or  window,  see.  him,  sits  with  more  grace 
than  he  otherwise  would,  so  he  who,  speaking  the  truth,  and 
admitting  men  to  a  knowledge  of  himself,  of  his  affairs,  of 
his  thoughts  and  his  feelings,  must  needs  have  those  thoughts 
and  feelings  better  behaved.  Yea,  yea ;  nay,  nay  ;  simplicity, 
transparency,  a  state  of  mind  which  you  are  not  ashamed  to 
have  known — these  elements  of  character  make  a  prodigious 
difference  with  a  man.  Wherever  a  man  begins  to  speak  the 
truth  as  the  genius  of  his  life  ;  wherever  he  lays  the  founda- 
tions of  his  life  on  this,  whatever  may  happen,  saying,  "  Let 
my  state  be  high  or  low,  successful  or  unsuccessful,  one  thing 
I  purpose  in  myself,  and  that  is  that  I  will  be  a  truth-think- 
ing and  truth -speaking  man," — wherever  a  man  takes  that 
ground,  and  follows  it,  he  has  marked  the  outlines  of  a  char- 
acter that  cannot  fail  to  grow  in  integrity,  in  beauty,  in 
praiseworthiness,  in  knowledge,  nay,  in  profitableness ;  for  I 
aver  that  although  for  immediate  purposes,  force,  and  du- 
plicity, and  cunning,  and  craft,  may  be  profitable,  yet,  in  the 
long  run,  there  is  nothing  so  profitable  in  this  world  as  right- 
down  manliness,  honesty,  truth,  fidelity,  and  reliableness. 

When  we  urge  these  things  we  are,  of  course,  met  by  a 
thousand  casuistical  difficulties.  I  propose  to  look  at  these, 
though  neither  very  leniently  nor  very  severely. 

In  the  first  place,  the  habits  of  society  are  such  that  men 


TRUTH-SPEAKING.  415 

are  beguiled,  aiid  almost  unable  to  tell  where  the  bounds  are 
between  right  and  wrong  in  this  matter  of  simplicity  in  the 
representation  of  truth.  The  more  you  look  into  society,  the 
more  you  mingle  with  men,  the  more  you  will  be  struck  with 
the  fact  that  those  who  are  amiable  and  kind  and  good  are 
extremely  conscientious  in  the  matter  of  strict  truthfulness. 
I  have  met  some  who  loved  the  truth  in  such  a  way  that  they 
could  not  speak  other  than  the  truth,  and  that  the  truth  and 
they  were  one  and  the  same  thing ;  but  they  are  rare  excep- 
tions. There  are  a  great  many  who  abhor  coarse,  vulgar, 
mischievous,  malignant,  needless  lies,  but  who  nevertheless 
regard  the  indirections,  equivocations,  and  sly  duplicities  of 
life  with  great  allowance. 

You  can  lie  by  lifting  up  your  eye-brows  ;  you  can  lie  by 
a  nod ;  you  can  lie  by  silence.  In  other  words,  the  inten- 
tional producing  on  another  person's  mind  an  impression  not 
in  accordance  with  the  truth  is  what  I  understand  by  not 
being  truthful.  The  voluntary  producing  on  another  man's 
mind  an  impression  that  is  true,  is  what  I  understand  by 
being  absolutely  truthful. 

Now,  there  is  a  tendency  of  men  in  life,  through  the 
inquisitiveness  of  some,  and  through  the  morbid  curiosity  or 
the  combativeness  of  others,  to  make  a  bad  use  of  the  truth. 
In  the  battles  of  life,  in  its  rivalries,  in  its  conflicts,  men  do 
not  think  it  safe  to  let  other  people  know  many  things  that 
they  know — and  it  may  not  be  safe.  It  does  not  follow, 
because  you  are  to  be  truthful,  that  you  must  tell  everything 
that  you  know.  There  are  thousands  of  things  that  you  have 
a  right  to  keep  to  yourself ;  there  are  thousands  of  things 
that  it  is  every  man's  duty  to  conceal ;  but  so  far  as  there 
is  overtness  in  the  matter  of  speaking,  it  should  be  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  truth.  It  sometimes  may  be  unpleasant, 
and  may  produce  disturbance  ;  but  in  the  long  run  it  is  the 
safest.  It  makes  a  nobler  character,  wins  more  confidence, 
and  prepares  the  future  for  better  achievements  than  a  resort 
to  indirections  or  equivocations. 

There  are  what  may  be  called  untruths  of  benevolence; 
and  the  question  comes  up,  "  Do  you  believe  we  ought  always 
to  tell  the  truth  to  the  sick  ? "  No,  I  do  not ;  but  I  do  think 


416  TRUTH-SPEAKING. 

that  we  ought  not  to  tell  an  untruth  to  a  sick  person,  or  to 
anybody  else.  "  Do  you  think  we  ought  to  tell  the  truth  to 
the  unwary  and  the  innocent?"  No,  not  necessarily;  but 
you  have  no  right  to  tell  them  that  which  is  untrue.  I  know 
how  many  cases  occur  in  the  sick  chamber  and  elsewhere,  in 
which  persons  are  tempted,  from  kind  considerations,  to 
evade  the  truth  ;  and  I  have  nothing  to  say  in  regard  to  them 
but  this :  that  whatever  may  be  tolerated  on  the  ground  of 
human  weakness  and  infirmity,  in  a  lower  type  of  manhood, 
untruth  under  any  circumstances  is  inconsistent  with  the 
highest  conception  of  true  manhood. 

I  shall  not  go  into  the  details  of  these  things,  but  let  me 
suppose  the  case  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  resorting  to  these 
indirections  which  are  thought  to  be  excusable  in  men.  No 
conceivable  false  impression  can  be  imagined  to  have  been 
made  by  him  without  producing  a  shock  on  every  man's 
mind.  You  will  defend  yourself,  you  will  defend  the  physi- 
cian, you  will  defend  the  Gospel,  you  will  defend  the  business 
man,  you  will  defend  your  friend  or  neighbor,  and  say, 
"  "Well,  it  was  a  falsehood  ;  but  then  it  was  to  save  a  man's 
life  ;  it  was  to  do  good  ;  it  was  for  this,  that  or  the  other  be- 
nevolent purpose  ;"  thus  on  the  human  plane  you  justify  it ; 
but  when  you  apply  it  to  your  ideal  Being,  you  cannot  toler- 
ate it  in  him,  because  it  is  inconsistent  with  ideal  perfection. 
You  could  not  tolerate  it  in  Christ  or  in  God.  And  it  is  in- 
consistent with  the  highest  type  of  manhood. 

I  am  not  speaking  of  whether  we  can  live  the  highest  life 
of  manhood :  I  say  that  absolute  sincerity  and  truthfulness 
are  indispensable  to  the  highest  conception  of  true  manhood. 

There  are  also  what  may  be  called  untruths  of  fear.  I 
think,  to  a  very  large  extent,  in  early  youth  especially,  the 
untruths  which  children  tell  are  the  result  of  fear.  The  un- 
truths of  childhood  are  not  always  caused  by  fear,  but  a  large 
proportion  of  them  are.  Our  children  begin  their  lives  as 
little  animals,  and  they  have  animal  inclinations  and  tenden- 
cies ;  and  frequently  it  is  not  until  a  later  period,  when  the 
intellectual  and  moral  forces  are  developed,  that  their  minds 
are  balanced.  Many  a  Christian  mother  foretells  that  her 
child  will  come  to  the  gallows,  because  he  lies  so ;  but  it  is 


TRUTH-SPEAKING.  417 

only  that  he  is  an  animal,  and  he  is  using  his  animal  nature. 
By  and  by,  when  the  social,  intellectual  and  moral  forces  are 
developed,  all  that  will  be  overruled  full  easily.  Many  a  lying 
child  has  made  a  truthful  man. 

Therefore,  in  the  lower  stages  of  life — that  is,  in  the 
youth  and  inexperience  of  children — nothing  is  so  provoca- 
tive of  falsehood  as  the  government  which  is  frequently  ad- 
ministered in  the  household,  where  threats,  where  chastise- 
ments, where  sudden  eruptions  of  violent  anger,  meet  the 
child  that  has  done  wrong.  I  know  that  when  I  was  a  boy  I 
told  a  great  many  lies,  and  that  I  never  told  one  on  purpose. 
Indeed,  I  think  I  rather  loved  the  truth  ;  but  being  a  child, 
and  being  sensitive  to  suffering,  I  dreaded  punishment :  and 
when  I  saw  it  threatening  to  carry  me  down  like  a  flood,  I 
dodged  it ;  and  it  was  dread  of  my  father  that  made  me  lie, 
and  not  my  love  of  untruth.  It  was  said  to  be  a  temptation 
of  the  devil.  Yes,  but  he  had  his  instruments. 

In  schools  many  and  many  are,  by  indiscreet  government, 
forced  into  falsehood.  The  self-defending  instinct  is  very 
strong ;  and  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  in  dealing  with  young 
persons  of  a  sensitive  nature,  that  often  we  tempt  them  more 
than  they  can  bear,  and  fear  overpowers  their  feeling  of 
conscience. 

But  not  the  young  alone  are  liable  to  insincerities,  equivo- 
cations, and  falsehoods.  These  things  are  part  and  parcel  of 
adult  life.  Everywhere  men  feel  themselves  justified  in 
untruths  by  fear  of  the  consequences  of  the  truth.  I  have 
only  to  say  that  this  is  inconsistent  with  the  highest  ideal  of 
manhood.  When  a  man  tells  a  falsehood,  and  says,  "I 
know  it  is  a  blemish,  but  circumstances  were  such  that  I 
could  not  take  the  other  course,"  he  boldly  avows  that  he 
lives  below  his  ideal ;  and  every  man  does  who,  through  fear, 
sacrifices  absolute  truth. 

A  truth  so  told  as  to  deceive  is  as  much  a  falsehood  as 
though  the  elements  of  it  were  themselves  false.  How  often 
do  we  see  persons  who,  in  bargains  and  business,  make  state- 
ments which  are  simply  and  absolutely  true,  but  who  in  doing 
it  throw  a  shadow  on  the  mind  of  the  hearer  which  is  very 
different !  He  goes  away,  and  acts  according  to  the  impres- 


418  TRUTH-SPEAKING. 

sion  that  was  produced,  and  that  was  meant  to  be  produced, 
till  the  pinch  comes  ;  and  then  the  terms  are  looked  at,  and 
it  is  found  that  the  words  were  exactly  true,  but  that,  after 
all,  there  was  a  misunderstanding  meant  and  there  was  a  mis- 
understanding given.  There  is  no  falsehood  worse  than  that 
which  a  truth  tells.  It  is  quite  possible  for  men  to  be  true  in 
every  word,  and  yet  false  in  the  whole  impression  made. 

I  need  not  dwell  on  the  more  flagrant  kinds  of  untruth — 
those  of  self-interest — by  which  men  bait  their  hook  with 
falsehood  that  they  may  catch  the  unwary.  I  need  not  tell 
you  how  bad  all  those  lies  are  which  are  mixed  up  in  business. 
I  may  say,  though,  that  however  you  may  permit,  that  how- 
ever you  may  make  customary,  that  however  by  public  senti- 
ment you  may  authorize,  certain  sorts  of  untruth  or  equivo- 
cation, they  are  unworthy  of  manhood,  and  unworthy  of 
business.  I  hold  that  that  administration  of  affairs,  whether 
it  be  national,  commercial,  political,  or  personal,  is  relatively 
low  which  adulterates  the  truth  by  any  form  of  equivocation 
or  indirection. 

If  you  look  into  the  ways  of  life,  you  shall  find  that 
falsehood  is  organic — so  much  so  that  it  is  very  difficult  to 
walk  straight  in  the  paths  of  business.  Business  is  so  organ- 
ized that  he  who  conducts  it  is  almost  of  necessity  bound  to 
insincerity  and  to  indirection.  What  shall  the  young  man 
do  who  is  expected  to  state  the  thing  that  is  equivocal  or  to 
lose  his  place  ?  He  is  expected,  not  to  lie,  but  to  deceive  ; 
not  to  tell  a  falsehood,  but  to  fib  ;  not  to  utter  a  black  false- 
hood that  has  no  profit  in  it,  but  a  white  one  that  brings 
custom  and  is  profitable.  He  revolts  at  it,  and  he  is  told 
very  plainly,  "Look  here,  young  man,  you  are  green;  and 
you  will  either  have  to  walk  out  of  this  concern,  or  else  you 
will  have  to  come  to  this  matter ;"  and  at  last  he  does  come 
to  it,  not  intending  it,  not  wishing  it,  but  bent  to  it  by  the 
force  of  circumstances. 

How  often  do  we  find,  not  simply  that  the  conduct  of 
affairs  is  such  that  it  requires  more  firmness  than  most  men 
have  to  avoid  untruth,  but  that  untruth  is  wrought  in  liter- 
ally upon  the  very  fabric  of  society  itself  !  Men  who  traffic 
know  that  they  are  trafficking  in  false  appearances,  in  adulter- 


TRUTH-SPEAKING.  419 

ations,  in  motives  that  are  unlawful,  in  ten  thousand  elements 
that  falsify  to  the  expectation  and  to  the  faith  of  those  with 
whom  they  deal. 

Now,  we  cannot  afford  this.  It  belongs  to  a  low  stage  of 
civilization.  You  cannot  sell  shoddy  for  good  fabric,  you 
cannot  sell  articles  of  food  basely  adulterated,  you  cannot 
adulterate  medicines,  you  cannot  forge  wines  or  strong  drinks, 
you  cannot  make  business  itself  all  the  way  through  insincere 
and  false,  and  yet  pretend  to  maintain  a  high  stage  of  civili- 
zation. Nor  can  men  deal  continuously  in  these  things,  and 
consent  to  them,  and  further  them,  and  yet  maintain  the 
highest  type  of  manhood. 

You  may  say,  "  I  do  not  pretend  to  maintain  the  highest 
type  of  manhood  ;  I  admit  the  blemish  and  flaw,  I  accept  it, 
and  go  on  with  it,  and  will  take  the  consequences. "  That  is 
another  matter ;  but  the  piteous  thing  is  that  men  think  they 
are  honest,  think  they  are  religious,  and  even  think  they  are 
eminently  spiritual  men ;  they  think  they  are  acceptable  to 
God ;  they  dwell  in  very  sweet  reveries  about  heaven ;  they 
talk  about  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  and  yet, 
when  you  come  to  scrutinize  the  conduct  of  their  affairs,  the 
construction  of  their  life,  the  management  of  their  business 
matters,  you  will  find  organized  into  the  whole  thread  and 
fabric  of  their  career  more  or  less  falsity.  Do  I  say  that  it 
vacates  their  religion  ?  No,  I  do  not  think  it  does.  I  think 
a  man  may  be  religious  in  spots.  I  should  be  sorry  to  think 
that  everybody  was  a  hypocrite  who  was  different  at  one  time 
from  what  he  was  at  another.  If  you  take  temptation  from 
men,  and  relieve  them  from  the  pressure  of  self-interest,  and 
bring  them  into  the  church,  and  they  begin  to  lift  their 
thoughts  into  the  higher  imaginative  ranges  beyond  them- 
selves, and  you  excite  in  them  all  sweet  associations,  and  let 
the  truth  play  upon  their  most  noble  faculties,  on  Sunday 
they  may  be  better  men,  and  may  think  better  and  speak 
better ;  but  on  Monday  they  go  out  and  enter  into  the  battle, 
and  the  hymn  is  gone,  and  the  prayer  is  forgotten,  and  the 
sermon  no  longer  sounds  in  their  ear,  and  the  lower  faculties 
begin  to  work  again  and  do  things  which  are  inconsistent 
with  all  their  moods  an  1  professions  of  yesterday ;  and  yet  it 


420  TRUTH-SPEAKING. 

is  unintentional — they  do  not  mean  to  be  hypocrites.  Under 
one  class  of  circumstances  one  class  of  faculties  is  excited, 
and  under  another  class  of  circumstances  another  class  of 
faculties  is  excited.  Men  are  inconsistent,  often,  who  are 
not  insincere.  They  are  untrue  to  their  own  highest  ideal, 
and  they  act  in  ways  that  are  contrary  to  their  purposes. 

So  I  perceive  men  to  be  right  in  spots,  carrying  up  some 
elements  of  character  nobly  and  beautifully ;  but  some  sides 
of  themselves  they  allow  to  sink  low  down  and  become  mis- 
chievous; they  are  irregular  and  comparatively  speaking 
low-toned  in  their  religious  life.  For  no  spiritual  fervor  can 
ever  make  up  for  the  want  of  ethical  correctness. 

The  two  elements  which  men  need  are  morality  at  the 
bottom  and  spirituality  at  the  top ;  for  mere  morality  is  dull, 
heavy,  unless  it  is  spiritualized ;  and  spirituality  is  evanes- 
cent, and  like  the  early  morning  cloud,  unless  it  has  its 
lower  roots  run  down  into  sound  practical  life.  Both  things 
are  needful. 

How,  when  society  is  constructed  as  it  is,  men  who  are 
in  the  administration  of  affairs  shall  escape  and  be  able  to 
make  new  channels,  is  a  very  serious  question.  It  is  very 
difficult  for  a  man  to  be  a  public  officer  and  be  truthful.  It  is 
very  difficult  for  a  man  to  be  a  lawyer  and  be  truthful.  It  is 
difficult  for  a  man  to  be  a  physician  and  be  truthful.  Not 
that  men  in  these  callings  are  so  depraved  that  they  want  to 
be  untruthful ;  they  want  to  be  truthful ;  but  they  find  them- 
selves so  met  by  influences,  hedged  in  by  walls,  confined  to 
ways  in  which  custom  makes  their  feet  to  walk,  that  con- 
stantly and  unwillingly  and  unwittingly  they  run  into  the  evils 
of  falsehood.  Therefore  it  would  seem  as  though  there  were 
no  way  of  avoiding  these  evils  except  by  changing  the  organic 
structure  of  the  human  race.  Falsity  so  inheres  in  the 
framework  and  substance  of  society,  that  men  who  do  not 
wish  to  be  untruthful  are  constantly  drawn  down  and  made 
to  be  false  to  their  best  ideals  of  themselves. 

And  yet,  I  believe  it  is  in  the  power  of  all  men  more  than 
they  do,  and  of  some  men  altogether,  to  be  superior  to  their 
circumstances.  I  admit  that  those  great  influences  which 
are  acting  night  and  day  insensibly,  and  with  a  distributed 


TRUTH-SPEAKINO.  421 

and  continuous  power,  do  in  the  long  run  constitute  the 
strongest  forces  that  act  upon  men ;  but  I  believe  in  that 
illumination  of  the  spirit,  that  life  of  the  soul  given  by  the 
power  of  God,  by  which  a  man  may  be  superior  to  his  cir- 
cumstances, and  even  to  these  constantly  outlying  and  inbeat- 
ing  influences  which  deteriorate  his  life. 

Meanwhile,  there  is  nothing  clearer  in  the  world  than  the 
unprofitableness  of  all  trick,  fraud,  guise,  insincerity,  dis- 
honesty, and  untruthf ulness.  And  it  is  for  the  interest  of 
every  man,  no  matter  what  his  business  may  be,  and  no  mat- 
ter how  many  he  has  to  serve  him,  that  truth  should  be 
spoken  between  man  and  man.  It  is  not  the  mother  alone 
who  ought  to  be  an  instructor  of  the  truth,  teaching  the 
child  at  her  knee  the  sacredness  and  honor  of  it ;  it  is  not 
love  alone  that  is  interested  in  having  the  truth  spoken ;  it  is 
not  the  priest  alone,  who  instructs  men  to  fear  God,  and  love 
the  truth,  and  labor  for  ideal  character  and  purity  ;  the  man- 
ufacturer is  interested  in  having  the  truth  told ;  the  mer- 
chant is ;  the  customer  is ;  the  low  in  society — the  wretched 
poor — are.  One  of  the  greatest  curses  of  human  life  is  the 
waste  which  is  occasioned  in  communities  by  reason  of  the 
indulgence  in  untruth  between  man  and  man,  disintegrating 
society,  enfeebling  affairs,  making  them  operose,  rendering 
them  hard  to  be  borne. 

We  are  incessantly  punished  a  thousand-fold  for  our 
transgressions  in  this  life  as  well  as  in  the  life  which  is 
to  come. 

Against  every  temptation,  then,  against  every  seeming  ne- 
cessity, I  lift  up  the  higher  ideal  of  manliness,  the  truer 
wisdom,  the  nobler  path,  and  say  to  every  one  who  is  now 
venturing  upon  life,  and  has  his  way  to  make,  and  his  char- 
acter to  establish,  there  is  nothing  better  for  you  than  man- 
hood. There  is  no  favor,  no  parentage,  no  capital,  that  can 
be  compared  to  that.  A  man  who  stands  in  the  midst  of 
affairs,  tested,  tried,  proved  to  be  a  man  of  unswerving  in- 
tegrity, a  man  of  absolute  truth,  a  man  that  is  true,  faithful, 
honest,  honorable,  is  more  valuable  than  gold,  even  in  a  com- 
mercial point  of  view.  A  man  in  politics  who,  though  he 
may  be  ambitious  and  partisan,  is  shown  to  be  faithful,  hon- 


422  TRUTH-SPEAKING. 

orable  and  trustful — even  in  politics  such  a  man,  in  the  long 
run,  wins.  One  reason  why  there  are  so  many  mushrooms 
and  puff-balls  in  society  is  that  men  forswear  morality.  In 
the  great  bustle  of  commerce,  in  the  conflict  of  affairs,  in 
the  heated  ways  of  public  life,  men  think  that  it  is  not  only 
safe  but  justifiable  and  profitable  for  them  to  set  aside  the 
fundamental  qualities  of  true  manhood.  That  is  the  reason 
why,  when  they  are  cut  down,  they  never  rise  again. 

We  honor  great  men ;  but  it  does  not  take  much  to  make 
a  great  man  in  a  community  where  there  are  newspapers. 
Great  men  have  a  campaign;  great  men  have  one  term  in 
Congress ;  great  men  have  a  five  years'  or  a  ten  years'  career 
in  the  State  Legislature  ;  and  great  men  think  themselves  to 
be  immovably  great ;  but  many  great  men  fall,  and  once  fall- 
ing, never  rise  again. 

It  does  not  hurt  some  things  to  fall.  The  elastic  ball, 
when  it  falls,  springs  up  again ;  the  solid  metal,  when  it 
falls,  may  not  spring  up,  but  it  is  solid  yet ;  but  find  me  an 
apple  that,  though  fair  of  skin,  is  rotten  at  the  core,  and  let 
that  once  fall,  and  what  becomes  of  it  ?  However  tempting 
it  looks,  when  the  shaking  hand  once  touches  it,  and  it  falls, 
shall  it  rise  again  ? 

Suppose,  as  an  application  of  this  discourse,  I  should  per- 
suade some  of  you  to  try  this  way  of  life  ?  Suppose  I  should 
persuade  the  maiden,  no  longer  to  guile,  no  longer  to  elegant 
indirections,  no  longer  to  the  most  exquisite  and  winning 
wiles  and  craft,  but  to  simplicity  and  to  truth.  Is  there  any- 
thing that  makes  the  virtuous  matron  a  noble  pattern  of  wo- 
manhood more  than  this — she  always  speaks  the  truth? 

"  My  wife,"  said  a  man  to  me,  "  needs  no  memory.  No 
matter  what  she  says  to-day,  she  need  not  trouble  herself  to 
think  what  she  said  yesterday  or  the  day  before.  It  w^s  true 
then,  and  it  is  true  now."  The  old  proverb  is,  "Liars 
should  have  long  memories ;"  but  no  man  ever  had  a  mem- 
ory so  long  and  deft  as  to  make  consistent  a  long  thread  of 
indirections  that  multiply  themselves  indefinitely.  There  is 
no  ideal  like  that  of  a  reliable  character.  There  is  nothing 
so  venerable  and  noble  as  a  man  who  is  true,  who  means 
truth,  and  who  casts  upon  every  one  the  atmosphere  of  truth. 


TPUTII-FlPEARTXii.  423 

It  is  better  a  thousand-fold  than  the  best  devices,  or  than  the 
cunningest  quips  and  quirks.  It  is  essentially  noble.  It  is 
of  God,  and  God-like.  And  in  the  great  battle  of  life,  where 
so  many  go  down  corrupted  for  want  of  good  morals,  a  young 
man  can  take  no  shield  better  than  truth,  the  love  of  it,  and 
the  purpose  to  stand  by  it,  swearing  fidelity  to  it,  and  taking 
evil  report  as  on  the  way  to  final  good  report.  This  is  the 
very  best  equipment  a  man  can  have  so  far  as  his  success 
among  men  is  concerned. 

It  takes  a  little  longer  to  build  on  truth  and  morality. 
He  that  builds  on  these  qualities  builds  so  much  deeper,  and 
builds  with  so  much  more  ease,  that  it  takes  more  time  ;  but 
once  built,  truth  and  rectitude  stand.  They  who  are  too 
much  in  a  hurry  ;  they  who  do  not  believe  that  truth  is  neces- 
sary ;  they  who  are  conceited  and  very  venturesome ;  they 
who  think  that  they  can,  by  indirections  and  glittering  insin- 
cerities, and  cunning  devices,  win  success,  and  stand  there- 
in— they,  like  the  fool,  rush  on  and  perish. 

For  your  own  happiness'  sake,  for  the  love  of  those  who 
surround  you,  for  the  respect  which,  first  or  last,  every  man 
longs  for  in  the  community  in  which  he  dwells,  for  the  noble 
and  honorable  old  age  to  which  you  look  forward,  and  for 
your  hope  in  God,  I  commend  you  to  sincerity,  to  fidelity,  to 
honor,  and  to  truth.  Pure  and  unspotted,  stand  on  the 
truth  ;  and  in  the  hour  of  emergency  the  truth  shall  -jtand 
by  you,  and  repay  you  a  thousand-fold. 


424  TRUTH-SPEAKING. 

PRAYER  BEFORE  THE   SERMON. 

WE  bless  thee,  thou  eternal  God,  that  thou  hast  been  pleased  to 
make  thyself  known  to  us,  not  by  the  dim  light  of  nature  alone,  not 
merely  by  the  mute  things  of  creation,  but  through  ourselves,  and, 
above  all,  through  our  Brother  and  Redeemer  Jesus  Christ ;  and  that 
now,  in  the  light  of  his  truth,  and  life,  and  revelation,  thou  art  still 
clearly  disclosing  thyself  by  thy  Spirit  in  the  experience  of  those 
that  are  drawn  unto  him  and  molded  into  the  same  image.  We 
rejoice  that  we  have  an  assurance  that  thou  art.  We  bear  within 
ourselves  an  evidence  which  none  can  take  from  us.  We  thank  thee 
for  that  disclosure  to  the  soul  which  cannot  come  by  the  understand- 
ing nor  by  the  process  of  reasoning,  but  which  comes  by  the  breath 
of  thy  Spirit  upon  ours.  We  rejoice  in  thine  iuward  touch,  and  in 
thy  presence,  which  we  know  by  that  peace  which  passeth  all  under- 
standing, and  by  the  yearning  which  we  feel  for  things  transcendent 
and  divine,  and  for  that  tenderness  of  heart  which  is  not  of  man. 
We  rejoice  that  thou  dost  inspire  in  us  something  of  thine  own  self  in 
the  love  of  things  pure,  and  true,  and  right.  We  thank  thee  for  all 
the  disclosures  which  thou  art  making  in  the  world.  We  thank  thee 
that  thou  art  more  and  more  molding  the  great  race  of  men  to  right 
things.  We  thank  thee  that  righteousness  is  the  law  of  thy  kingdom. 

Have  compassion,  we  pray  thee,  upon  all  who  are  seeking  to  live 
aright,  and  who  are  yet  filled  with  infirmities,  or  are  struggling  with 
weakness,  or  are  overpowered  by  temptation,  or  are  cast  down. 
Thou  seest  that  the  battle  is  too  mighty  for  many.  O  thou  that  art 
the  Captain  of  salvation,  come  to  the  rescue  of  those  who  are 
overborne,  and  of  those  who  are  captive,  and  release  them,  and 
become  their  Redeemer. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  look  upon  those  who  are  tempt- 
ed more  than  they  are  able  to  bear;  upon  those  who  are  tempted 
through  selfishness,  through  pride,  by  overmuch  love  of  gain,  by  the 
praise  of  men,  through  indulgence  in  pleasure,  through  the  affec- 
tions, and  through  kindness;  upon  all  who  are  overtaken  with 
evil;  upon  all  who  are  besieged  with  solicitations  to  vice;  upon 
all  who  are  weak  and  are  assailed  by  reason  of  their  weakness.  O, 
thou  that  art  a  fortress  and  a  refuge  for  men  in  trouble,  may  every 
one  know  how  to  come  unto  thee  and  be  saved  in  the  day  of  trouble. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  kindle  in  every  heart  the  desire  to  please 
thee.  We  pray  that  every  one  may  bear  about  with  him  the  con- 
sciousness of  thy  presence,  and  thy  inspection,  and  thy  power.  So 
grant  that  that  strength  which  is  lacking  in  us  may  be  manifested 
unto  us  from  the  abundance  of  thy  greatness  and  of  thine  omnip- 
otence. 

We  thank  thee  for  sparing  mercies.  We  look  back  through  years 
to  see  all  the  way  in  which  thou  hast  led  us,  with  wonder  and  with 
gratitude.  How  many  have  been  the  evils  that  have  risen  up 
to  engulf  us  I  and  yet  at  thy  word  the  storm  passed  by,  and  all 
was  calm.  From  how  many  destructions,  as  they  seemed  to  us,  have 
we  been  gloriously  delivered.  Our  fears  have  been  false  prophets. 
Thou  hast  been  a  God  of  consolation,  of  light,  and  of  joy;  and  thou 


TRUTH-SPEAKING.  425 

hast  more  than  fulfilled  thy  promises  to  us.  When  we  hare  loved  but 
a  little,  and  believed  but  a  little,  thou  hast  done  exceeding  abun- 
dantly more  for  us  than  we  asked  or  thought,  as  thou  wilt  continue  to 
do.  Thou  dost  abound  in  riches  of  soul.  These  are  the  riches 
we  need — purer  thoughts;  purer  aspirations;  more  fortitude;  more 
self-denial;  more  setting  our  faces  against  the  lurking  seductions  of 
self-indulgence.  We  desire  and  need  more  and  more  a  sense  of  the 
power  of  the  Spiritual  world  acting  upon  us,  that  we  may  know  thtit 
our  true  life  is  in  the  invisible. 

So  grant  thyself  unto  us,  every  one,  that  we  may  more  and  more 
walk  as  becometh  the  children  of  God.  If  there  be  those  in  thy  pres- 
ence who  are  heartsick,  who  are  weary  of  their  warfare,  with  whom 
the  way  of  life  is  a  covered  and  darkened  way,  be  gracious  unto  them. 
Thou  that  dost  comfort  the  mourner,  and  dost  bless  the  mourning 
soul,  wilt  thou  grant  to  them  that  lie  in  darkness  all  those  consola- 
tions and  songs  in  the  night  which  shall  make  them  praise  the  Lord. 

Grant,  if  there  be  those  in  thy  presence  who  are  perplexed,  not 
knowing  the  way  of  duty,  and  who  eagerly  seek  to  find  a  path  from 
the  intricacies  of  life,  that  they  may  find  it.  Give  them  a  clear 
understanding.  Point  out  to  them  the  way  of  rectitude.  May  they 
hear  that  voice  inwardly,  saying,  This  is  the  way  of  God ;  walk  ye 
in  it. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  help  those  who  strive  against  their  inbred 
sins,  their  crooked  dispositions,  and  the  habits  which  have  been  fast- 
ened upon  them.  Grant,  if  there  be  any  who  are  carried  away  by 
their  appetities,  and  passions,  and  desires,  and  who  strive  to  break 
away  from  all  their  temptations  and  troubles,  that  they  may  know 
that  the  compassion  of  God  is  upon  them,  and  that  the  help  of  the 
Spirit  is  vouchsafed  to  them.  May  they  not  be  afraid,  because  they 
are  sinful,  to  look  up,  or  to  plead  for  help.  Though  they  are 
unworthy,  although  they  have  promised  and  broken  their  promise  a 
thousand  times,  may  they  never  give  up,  but  still  go  to  the  Physician 
of  their  souls,  that  they  may  be  healed  of  all  their  transgressions. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  to  all  of  us  a  life  of  truth  and 
fidelity  patiently  borne.  May  we  be  forbearing  in  pain  and  long- 
suffering,  in  all  circumstances  of  trial.  May  we  live  by  the  power  of 
hope,  and  overcome  despondency.  May  we  accept  the  law  of  God 
every  day,  as  it  is  revealed  in  his  providence,  and  say,  Thy  will 
be  done.  May  we  rejoice  with  those  that  do  rejoice,  and  weep  with 
those  that  weep,  condescending  to  men  of  low  estate,  and  walking 
with  a  sweet  fellowship  with  the  men  who  are  around  about  u?. 
Grant  that  we  may  lead  useful  lives  in  all  our  intercourse  one  with 
another  in  the  household,  and  in  the  affairs  of  life,  until  we  are  hewn 
and  fashioned  into  the  image  and  character  which  shall  fit  us  for  the 
heavenly  land. 

O  Lord  our  God,  take  anything  from  us  that  thou  wilt,  and  put 
anything  upon  us  that  thou  wilt;  but  take  not  away  our  portion  in 
heaven.  Grant  that  we  may  not  have  our  benefits  in  this  life,  and 
lose  them  in  the  life  that  is  to  come.  Give  us  thy  divine  wisdom, 
that  godliness  which  is  profitable  in  all  things,  having  promise 
of  the  life  that  now  is  as  well  as  of  that  which  is  to  come.  And 


426  TRUTH-SPEAKING. 

filially,  when  thou  hast  perfected  thy  working  in  us,  bring  us  through 
the  gate  of  death  to  the  golden  shore.  There  may  we  meet  those 
who  have  gone  from  us.  There  may  we  meet  the  general  assembly 
and  church  of  the  first-born — the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect. 
There  may  we  be  perfected,  and  rise  through  the  ages,  rejoicing  for 
ever  and  for  ever,  praising  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

CI-EANSE  us,  our  Father,  from  all  evil,  from  aU  deceitfulness,  and 
from  all  the  things  that  tempt  us  thereto.  Forgive  us  our  weakness 
and  our  wickedness.  Heal  us  of  them,  and  lead  us  toward  the  charity 
of  thy  soul.  We  rejoice  that  the  government  of  the  universe  is  in  the 
hands  of  a  God  of  infinite  truth ;  and  yet  we  rejoice  in  thy  patience 
with  crooked  and  untruthful  men.  Win  them  to  better  ways.  We 
pray  that  thou  wilt  draw,  with  sweet  and  benign  influence,  all  those 
who  are  in  thy  presence,  toward  the  truth  and  a  higher  manhood, 
that  they  may  walk  and  be  strong  therein.  May  those  who  have 
been  wounded  be  healed.  May  those  who  are  out  of  the  way 
be  brought  back  into  the  strait  and  narrow  path.  May  those  who 
have  indulged  in  wrong  things  henceforth  do  them  no  more.  So  we 
pray  that  the  spirit  of  religion  may  work  all  sweetness  and  righteous- 
ness in  thy  servants,  and  that  thy  name  may  be  glorified  in  the  well- 
doing of  those  who  are  thy  children. 

We  thank  thee  for  the  privileges  of  the  day.  Dismiss  us  from  the 
sanctuary  to  our  homes.  Bless  our  families,  that  they  may  be  as  the 
gates  of  heaven  to  us,  through  life  and  its  trials.  And  bring  us 
at  last  to  the  joy  of  the  eternal  state,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord 
and  Saviour.  Amen, 


THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS. 


"  And  I,  brethren,  when  I  came  to  you,  came  not  with  excellency 
of  speech  or  of  wisdom,  declaring  unto  you  the  testimony  of  God 
For  I  determined  not  to  know  anything  among  you,  save  Jesus 
Christ,  and  him  crucified.  And  I  was  with  you  in  weakness,  and  iu 
fear,  and  in  much  trembling.  And  my  speech  and  my  preaching  was 
not  with  enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom,  but  in  demonstration  of 
the  Spirit  and  of  power:  that  your  faith  should  not  stand  in  the  wis- 
dom of  men,  but  in  the  power  of  God."— 1  COB.,  ii.,  1-5. 


We  are  not  to  understand,  from  the  teaching  of  the  apos- 
tle, that  human  wisdom  or  philosophy  is  to  be  despised.  In 
the  lower  realms  of  life,  not  only  is  it  indispensable,  but 
it  is  noble.  None  exercise  it  more  appropriately  than  the 
apostle  himself  did  ;  and  there  is  much  of  the  truth  that 
belongs  to  the  material  creation.  There  are  large  realms  of 
truth  that  belong  to  the  lower  forms  of  man's  own  mind  and 
nature,  which  are  to  be  discovered  by  the  proper  use  of  the 
reason,  acting  under  conditions  of  philosophy  ;  and  although 
this  may  have  carried  with  it  a  certain  sort  of  criticism, 
directly  or  indirectly,  of  the  Grecian  schemes  of  philosophy, 
yet  there  was  in  them  a  great  power  of  usefulness.  Nothing 
can  reach  down  through  thousands  of  years,  holding  the 
thoughts  of  men  in  delightful  thrall,  which  is  altogether 
inapt  or  foolish  ;  and  yet,  although  a  spade  is  one  of  the  best 
things  a  gardener  can  have,  it  would  be  a  very  poor  thing  foi 
a  mother  to  try  to  feed  her  babe  with.  Although  the  reason 
may  be  admirable,  and  the  uses  of  it  noble,  in  the  lower 


KVEKINQ,  May  24,  187*.    LESSON  :  Phil.  U.,  1-U.   HYMNS  (Plymouth  Col- 
lection) :  NOB.  066,  838,  316. 


430  THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS. 

forms,  yet  there  are  certain  realms  of  truth,  there  are  cer- 
tain sorts  of  knowledge,  for  which  the  reason  is  not 
adapted. 

It  is  not,  then,  to  be  understood  that  the  Apostle  Paul 
derided  intellection,  or  systems  of  philosophy,  but  that  he 
had  a  higher  thought  in  his  mind  than  the  thought  of  these 
things. 

So,  again,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  Apostle  Paul 
scoffed  at  the  skillful  presentation  of  truths  to  men,  or  a 
wise  approach  with  knowledge  to  men's  minds ;  for  he  him- 
self was  a  pattern.  No  more  adroit  man  was  ever  known. 
No  man,  standing  among  Pharisees,  or  Sadducees,  or  any 
others,  recognized  more  than  he  the  necessity  of  adapting 
his  teaching  to  those  whom  he  taught,  and  to  the  circum- 
stances in  which  he  taught.  When,  therefore,  he  says  that 
he  did  not  come  with  the  wisdom  of  words,  it  is  not  to  be 
understood  as  being  a  general  fling  at  rhetorical  or  oratorical 
modes  of  handling  the  truth  ;  it  is  to  be  understood,  rather, 
as  implying  that  there  are  some  things  which  the  most  skill- 
ful oratory  cannot  touch ;  that  there  are  deeper  truths, 
higher  realms,  than  any  which  can  be  reached  by  rhetoric. 

Neither  did  he  invalidate  in  this  declaration,  those  views 
and  representations  of  God  which  were  already  familiar  to 
the  Jews,  and  which  pervade  the  Old  Testament.  The  glory 
of  God  as  Creator;  his  sovereignty  as  Governor;  his  provi- 
dence as  Administrator — these  in  various  ways  he  often 
recognized ;  but  there  is  something  more  than  these  in  the 
divine  nature.  -.  There  is  something  more  than  a  dynastic 
God ;  something  more  than  a  rational  God ;  something  more 
than  a  God  of  the  heaven  and  of  the  earth,  creating  material 
forms,  and  administering  an  economy  of  laws.  There  was 
something  transcendently  more  noble,  deeper,  higher,  wider, 
and  more  influential  than  the  current  views  of  the  divine 
nature.  That  which  was  built  up,  and  that  which  was  con- 
veyed to  the  minds  of  men  by  material  figures  drawn  from 
the  works  of  creation,  from  the  procession  of  armies,  from 
the  power  of  the  mightiest  sovereigns,  from  those  things 
which  men  most  enjoy  and  most  admire  in  these  elements  in 
their  own  appropriate  sphere — this  was  wise  and  helpful  in 


THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS.  431 

leading  men's  thoughts  up  to  a  consideration  of  the  true  God  ; 
but  then,  when  one  had  approached  to  the  central  Sovereign 
of  the  universe,  there  was  a  disposition  as  well  as  a  govern- 
ment.    There  was  a  God  in  his  relations  to  the  great  crea-  — ^ 
tion  ;  but  there  was  a  God  in  his  relation  to  his  own  children.  **  — 

A  magistrate  is  allowed  to  have  no  feelings,  and  yet  be- 
hind all  magistracy  is  the  father,  the  husband,  and  the 
friend ;  so  behind  and  within  the  sovereign  God,  there  was 
the  personal  and  dispositional  element  of  the  divine  nature ; 
and  it  was  this  that  the  apostle  caught.  Perhaps  more 
certainly,  more  anxiously,  and  more  urgently  than  any  other 
one,  does  he  express  this  interior  and  personal  disposition  of 
God,  as  made  manifest  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  it  is 
this  that  gives  us  some  insight  or  hint  as  to  the  singular  use 
of  language  which  he  employs  : 

"  Christ  sent  me  not  to  baptize,  but  to  preach  the  gospel,  not  with 
wisdom  of  words,  lest  the  cross  of  Christ  should  be  made  of  none 
effect.  For  the  preaching  of  the  cross  [why  did  he  not  say  the  preach- 
ing of  Christ  ?  He,  as  it  were,  changed  the  name.  Why,  instead  of 
using  that  glorious  Name  that  is  above  every  name,  should  he  have 
said,  'The  preaching  of  the  cross' — not,  The  preaching  of  Christ— 
not,  The  preaching  of  that  gospel  system,  that  system  of  good  news 
that  had  irradiated  the  world,  and  filled  the  world  with  joy?  Why 
should  he  have  said,  The  preaching  of  the  cross— that  bloody  and 
hateful  instrument  of  despotism  and  cruelty  ?]  is  to  them  that  perish 
foolishness  [Yes,  and  it'is  to  this  day]:  but  unto  us  which  are  saved  it 
is  the  power  of  God." 

What !  The  cross  the  power  of  God  ?  In  the  passage 
which  I  read,  Paul  says  : 

"  I  determined  not  to  know  anything  among  you  save  Jesus  Christ 
and  him  crucified." 

In  other  words,  he  determined  not  to  know  Jesus  Christ 
as  he  walked  in  Galilee  ;  as  he  led  captive  the  throngs  of  the 
people  ;  as  he  stood  in  the  temple,  meeting  and  matching  his 
adversaries,  and  unfolding,  serenely,  and  with  transcendent 
power,  the  secrets  of  the  spirit-land ;  or  as  he  was  in  his 
ascension  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  He  determined  not  to 
know  Christ  efflorescent,  victorious,  attractive,  beautiful, 
winning.  He  determined  not  to  know  even  Jesus  Christ, 
when  he  came  among  the  Corinthians,  except  as  the  wounded, 
the  bruised,  the  crucified. 

Now,  there  is  in  this,  when  you  come  to  scrutinize  it, 


432  THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS. 

something  strange,  something  mysterious.  Because  you  must 
remember  that  this  Paul  was  almost  a  vagabond  Jew. 

If,  in  1859  or  1860,  a  black  man  had  come  from  the 
South  to  New  York,  he  would  have  stood  against  a  popular 
prejudice  more  notorious  than  that  against  which  Paul, 
being  a  Jew,  stood  in  Corinth,  a  city  that  fairly  groaned 
under  the  luxury  that  wrapped  it  round  perpetually.  The 
Greeks,  like  all  nations,  were  conceited,  and  they  thought 
Corinth  was  an  enormous  city,  and  they  thought  that  all  but 
Greeks  were  barbarians,  as  the  Jews  thought  that  all  but 
Jews  were  Gentiles ;  and  as  we  think  that  all  but  the  elect 
are  non-elect,  or  that  all  but  members  of  the  church  are 
objects  of  God's  uncovenanted  mercies — which  are  a  great 
deal  better  than  the  covenanted  mercies  of  most  folks  who 
are  in  the  church. 

The  Corinthians  had  this  contempt,  and  especially  for  the 
Jews.  The  Jews  were  odious  to  them ;  and  this  Jew  was 
unquestionably  a  diminutive  personage.  Paul's  references  to 
himself  are  not  flattering.  I  think  the  idea  conveyed  of  his 
physical  appearance  is  that  it  was  insignificant.  And  when 
he  came  to  this  ornate,  luxurious  city,  this  city  of  various 
refinement  and  culture,  this  city  of  intellectual,  artistic,  and 
esthetic  power,  it  is  natural  that  he  should  have  said  to  him- 
self :  "  Now,  I  have  a  difficult  thing  to  do  :  how  shall  I  do  it  ? 
How  shall  I  win  this  great  city  ?  How  shall  I  gain  the  ear 
of  these  people  ?  Will  not  the  cacophony  of  my  language 
grate  on  their  ears?  Will  not  my  thoughts  and  notions 
clash  with  theirs,  on  the  subject  of  divinity?  Where  are 
there  any  analogies  between  my  views  and  theirs  ?  How 
shall  I  spin  my  ideas  so  that  they  shall  join  on  to  theirs  ? 
How  can  I  gain  them  ?  What  is  there  in  common  between 
them  and  me  ?" 

If  there  was  ever  one  thing  that  a  Jew  believed  in,  it  was 
that  when  God  should  come  as  Messiah,  he  would  come  mag- 
nificently ;  that  the  earth  would  shake  under  his  footsteps ; 
that  he  would  advance  his  glittering  banner,  and  that  the 
armies  that  would  march  under  it  would  overthrow  all  oppo- 
sition ;  that  all  men  would  bow  down  before  him,  and  that  he 
would  stand  in  Jerusalem  and  upon  Mount  Zion  acknowl- 


THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS.  433 

edged  to  be  the  glorious  Sovereign  of  time  and  the  world, 
and  subdue  the  earth  to  himself.  The  Jews*  notion  of  the 
coming  Messiah  was  that  he  was  a  being  of  glory  and  power, 
conspicuous,  brilliant,  unmistakable. 

As  to  the  Greeks,  their  notion  of  God  was  that  he  was  a 
being  of  eternal  youth,  eternal  beauty,  and  eternal  joy,  with- 
out alloy,  with  perfectness  of  condition,  plenitude  of  place, 
and  peace  undisturbed. 

When,  therefore,  Paul  came  preaching  a  divine  Saviour, 
how  natural  it  would  have  been  for  him  to  slur  over  these  ~*^ 
things  which  were  offensive  to  his  hearers  in  regard  to 
that  Saviour,  only  making  conspicuous  such  features  of  him 
and  of  his  doctrine  as  were  agreeable  to  them ;  but  no,  he 
said,  "  I  determined  not  to  know  anything  among  you  save 
Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified."  He  determined  not  to 
know  even  the  Saviour,  except  as  the  crucified  One.  He  de- 
termined to  preach  among  those  proud,  beauty-loving,  effemi- 
nate, sensitive  Greeks,  the  most  odious  thing  that  could  be 
preached — namely,  a  malefactor ;  a  man  so  weak  that  the 
Roman  government  could  easily  lay  the  cross  upon  him ;  a 
man  whom  his  own  countrymen  despised  and  crucified. 

Such  was  his  text,  such  was  his  theme ;  and  he  went  to 
this  proud  city  of  Corinth,  and  determined  to  preach  this  truth 
in  its  most  unpalatable  form,  and  to  know  nothing  but  that. 

Surely,  he  might  well  say  that  the  wisdom  of  this  world 
was  not  with  him  ;  that  he  was  not  wise  according  to  the  pat- 
tern of  this  world ;  that  he  did  not  depend  upon  the  power 
of  words,  or  the  skillful  arrangement  of  appeals ;  that  these 
would  not  help  him  under  the  circumstances.  What  was 
there  that  helped  him  ? 

He  had  advanced  a  new  conception  of  the  divine  nature, 
which  was  foolishness  to  them  who  only  heard  it  by  the  out- 
ward ear,  while  to  those  who  really  got  it  into  their  mind,  and      \ 
understood  what  it  was,  and  felt  the  transcendent  beauty  of 
it,  and  entered  into  the  interior  conception  of  that  which 
represented  the  constituent  elements  of  the  divine  nature,  it     I 
was  the  wisdom  of  God  and  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation. 

And  what  was  this  cross,  what  was  this  suffering,  what 
was  this  broken  Saviour,  but  the  revelation  of  God  through 


434  THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS. 

him  who  thought  it  was  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God, 
and  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took  upon  him  the 
form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  men,  and, 
being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man,  humbled  himself,  and  be- 
came obedient  unto  death — the  death  of  the  cross  ? 

All  this  long  interval  of  self-humiliation — what  was  it  ? 
It  was  that  by  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  revealed  that  the 
nature  of  God  was  not  the  nature  of  one  who  sat  serene  in 
eternal  blessedness,  and  had  kind  thoughts,  and  sent  out  kind 
messages,  and  that  it  was  not  a  dynasty  in  the  heavens,  lifted 
up  above  all  trouble  and  all  sorrow.  Jesus  Christ  came  to 

>  reveal  that  the  nature  of  God  was  the  source  and  fountain  of 
sympathy.  "We  see  it  represented  in  diminished  forms,  and 
under  imperfect  conditions,  in  the  mother  that  gives  herself 
for  the  child,  in  the  hero  that  will  die  for  a  friend,  in  a 
thousand  ministrations  of  love  in  heroic  forms,  in  this  life, 
where  it  is  accounted  to  be  noble  and  manly  for  one  to  suffer 
for  another.  The  ministration  of  care,  by  which,  through, 
uncounted  hours,  the  mother  bears  for  the  helpless,  for  the 
weak,  for  the  child  that  is  brought  up  not  less  in  her  soul 
than  on  her  bosom,  drawing  bodily  food  from  the  one  and 
soul  food  from  the  other — by  which  she  gives  herself  for  the 
child,  and  is  continually  spending  and  being  spent  that  the 
child  may  thrive  and  grow,  she  growing  as  the  child  grows; 
the  ministration  of  self-sacrifice,  as  seen  in  the  mother,  the 
dignity  and  grandeur  of  which  is  inherent  in  such  action — 
this  is  a  ministration  which  represents,  in  some  measure,  care 
and  love  and  solf-sacrifice  in  God.  In  thus  giving  self  for 
another,  they  who  go  down  go  up  ;  they  who  serve  rule  ;  they 
who  are  lowest  are  the  highest ;  they  who  are  the  weakest  are 
the  mightiest.  In  the  direction  of  such  a  giving  of  one's  self 
goes  moral  grandeur — not  carnal,  dynastic  grandeur,  noi 
grandeur  according  to  the  method  and  pattern  of  men  on 
earth,  but  the  reverse.  In  the  great  interior  sphere,  in  the 
spirit  land,  in  the  dignities  and  ranks  and  gradations  to  which 
God  belongs,  and  toward  which  men  aspire — there  greatness 
measures  itself  by  what  it  does,  and  not  by  what  it  receives  ; 
by  the  power  which  there  is  in  purity  to  make  the  impure 
pure ;  by  the  power  which  there  is  in  wisdom  to  make  the 


THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS.  435 

ignorant  wise  ;  by  the  power  which  there  is  in  the  divine  na- 
ture to  make  the  suffering  well  and  whole  again ;  by  that 
power  by  which  God  pours  himself  out,  and  becomes  bread 
which  men  eat  that  they  may  live,  or  water  which  men  drink 
that  they  may  quench  their  thirst,  and  that  quenching  their 
Wiirst  they  may  be  immortal. 

God  is  the  Burden-bearer  of  the  universe.  He  was  the 
Lamb  of  Sacrifice  from  the  beginning  of  the  world.  The 
essential  nature  of  God  is  to  suffer  not  as  men  suffer  who  are 
weak  ;  to  suffer  not  as  men  suffer  under  the  lash,  for  disobe- 
bedience ;  to  suffer  not  as  stumbling  ignorance,  or  blunder- 
ing prejudice,  or  overleaping  eagerness,  or  blind  avarice 
suffers  ;  to  suffer  not  in  any  of  the  lower  forms  of  suffering  ; 
to  suffer  with  that  suffering  which  is  full  of  joy  and  strength 
and  grandeur,  and  which  comes  from  the  consciousness  of 
giving  one's  self  to  make  another  soul  larger  and  stronger 
and  wiser  and  better. 

Here  comes  in  the  fullness  of  time,  the  descent  of  the 
Messenger  of  God,  the  appearance  of  the  Ambassador  of 
Heaven,  to  make  known  to  men  the  inward  nature  of  God. 
He  who  had  stained  the  heavens  ;  he  who  had  made  the  earth 
shake  with  the  thunder  of  his  power;  he  who  had  been 
materially  equipped  as  a  sovereign  in  the  eyes  of  men — he, 
according  to  the  representation  made  by  Jesus  Christ,  carried 
within  his  exterior  grandeur  a  heart  of  love  and  self-sacrifice 
compared  with  which  the  heart  of  the  sweetest  mother  that 
ever  lived  is  as  a  taper  compared  with  the  blazing  sun  at 
noonday.  As  is  a  handful  of  mist  that  rises  from  the  sea 
compared  with  the  whole  ocean,  so  is  the  purest  and  deepest 
and  noblest  soul  among  men  compared  with  God. 

Now,  that  great  ocean-nature,  the  infinite  God,  is  not  one 
who  sits,  as  the  Greeks  thought,  on  a  throne,  making  the 
universe  subservient  to  him,  nor  one,  as  modern  theology  has 
taught  substantially,  who  sits  on  a  throne  saying,  "  For  my 
own  glory  I  live,  and  everything  I  make  I  am  going  to  make 
as  a  decoration  to  myself."  Christ  came  to  reveal  a  God  who 
so  loved  that  sacrifice  was  to  him  the  emblem  of  love ;  and 
who  ruled  over  a  creation  that  came  in  at  the  lowest  point, 
and  groaned  and  travailed  in  pain.  He  revealed  a  God.  that 


436  THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS. 

was  Nurse  ;  that  was  Physician  ;  that  was  Minister ;  that  was 
Friend  ;  that  was  All  in  all  to  the  desolate,  the  poor,  and  the 
needy. 

The  manifestation  of  Jesus  Christ  upon  the  cross  was  to 
show  that  God  suffered  in  order  that  men  might  he  redeemed 
from  suffering.  It  was  to  show  the  interior  disposition  of 
God  as  an  all-helpful,  all-serving,  all-loving  Father,  full  of 
the  plenitude  and  grandeur  and  heroism  of  mercy.  It  was 
to  make  known  to  the  world  the  divine  ministration  of  good- 
ness. This  was  made  known  through  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  no  person  has  ever  felt  the  real  power  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  that  his  soul  has  not  in  substance  come  to  such  a  view 
as  this,  though  he  may  not  have  understood  it  in  any  philo- 
sophical sense.  It  has  heen  limited,  it  has  been  chequered, 
it  has  been  clothed  in  ways  that  were  grotesque,  it  has  been 
so  dealt  with  that  the  precious  truth  has  been  hindered  in  its 
progress ;  but  I  hold  that  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  was  a  sem- 
blance of  the  divine  nature,  in  which  love  universal  bore  in 
itself  the  capacity  and  the  disposition  to  serve  universal  want ; 
and  that  when  Christ  laid  himself  down  and  said,  "  I  am  the 
Road,"  he  let  the  feet  of  all  the  world  tread  upon  him.  The 
old,  and  the  weak,  and  the  captive,  and  little  children,  and 
all  thab  lived,  walked  upon  him,  as  it  were.  He  made  him- 
self a  way  on  which  their  feet  could  tread.  He  put  himself 
underneath  them,  so  that  when  he  lifted  himself  up  he  might 
carry  them  up  with  him.  Having  humbled  himself  in  this 
way,  and  done  such  a  mighty  and  majestic  service  of  love, 
fitly  was  it  declared  that  God  for  this  should  give  him  a  name 
above  every  name,  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee 
might  bow,  and  every  tongue  confess  that  he  was  Lord,  to  the 
glory  of  God. 

Our  Lord,  therefore,  is  not  a  despot  of  supreme  decrees, 
who  sits  in  heaven  saying  to  the  world,  "  There  is  law,  and 
if  you  do  not  come  up  to  that  law,  you  shall  be  damned — 
and  if  you  do,  a  great  many  of  you  shall,  that  I  made  on 
purpose  to  damn."  How  hideous  is  the  conception  of  such 
a  sovereign  as  that,  lifted  up  by  the  side  of  Calvary,  that 
speaks  of  One  who  descended  from  the  glory  of  the  heavenly 
estate  that  he  might  bring  down  to  men  the  infinite  mercy  of 


THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS.  437 

a  self -sacrificing  God,  to  represent  the  glory  that  the  eterni- 
ties would  disclose  !  What  a  slander  it  is  to  depict  God  as 
one  who  finds  his  glory  in  the  most  despicable  and  hateful 
tyranny  1  For  the  race  is  born  too  weak,  too  poor,  too  low 
down,  too  ignorant,  to  find  its  own  way  from  the  ooze.  We 
come  from  the  dust,  and  to  the  dust  we  go  again ;  and  if 
there  be  not  somewhere  something  mightier  than  men's  own 
power,  0  what  will  become  of  them  ?  What  would  become 
of  our  children  if  they  were  all  alone  in  the  house  ?  How 
many  babes  would  ever  get  beyond  the  first  few  days  if 
there  was  not  a  ministration  over  them  of  some  superior? 
We  have  it  in  the  family  all  the  time.  We  have  it  in  the 
interpretation  of  the  Bible  as  it  is  continually  before  us. 
Those  who  live  for  weakness  and  for  want ;  those  who  pour 
out  their  own  experience,  exercise  their  own  judgment,  spend 
their  own  time  and  give  their  own  life  for  those  who  need 
succor,  are  honorable  in  the  sight  of  their  fellow-men,  and 
are  held  in  high  esteem  by  those  around  about  them  by  reason 
of  these  things.  Mankind  are  but  little  children.  The 
whole  world  is  in  babyhood.  Men  were  created  helpless. 
The  race  was  made  subject  to  vanity  not  willingly.  God  did 
not  ask  me  whether  I  would  be  born,  nor  you.  The  nations 
were  brought  into  existence  without  their  volition.  The  con- 
tinents of  the  globe  were  peopled  without  consulting  the 
beings  by  whom  they  were  peopled.  The  whole  earth  is  in 
trouble  and  bondage.  And  yet  there  is  a  God  of  infinite 
mercy  and  compassion.  It  seems  to  me  that  men  might  well 
rise  up  with  an  indignant  infidelity,  and  maintain  their  man- 
hood against  the  mischievous  and  horrible  idea  of  a  demoriac 
God. 

That  which  takes  place  in  the  family  between  parents  and 
children  is  an  illustration  of  what  takes  place  in  God's  uni- 
verse between  him  and  his  creatures. 

I  know  of  fathers  whose  sons  are  intemperate,  and  whose 
houses  are  as  Gethsemanes  and  Aceldamas ;  and  yet,  such  is 
their  life  that  all  the  surroundings  of  their  homes,  and  all 
the  golden  hours  that  might  otherwise  be  radiant  in  the 
household,  are  sacrificed ;  and  no  continuance  in  evil,  no 
excess,  no  temptation,  wears  out  the  unweariable  patience  of 


438  THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS. 

parental  love  ;  and  thus  years  and  years  of  debasement  being 
past,  yet  it  is  hoped  that  years  in  the  future  may  bring  refor- 
mation. 

Now,  who  gave  to  the  father  that  love  and  that  heroism  ? 
"Whence  did  they  come  but  from  Him  who  does  by  the  uni- 
verse and  by  its  prodigals  what  the  father  in  an  earthly  family 
learns  to  do  by  self-sacrificing  love  for  his  son. 

With  these  conceptions  of  God,  I  could  say,  almost,  as 
Paul  did,  "Let  me  preach  that  view,  and  I  will  know  noth- 
ing else." 

But  there  is  something  very  subduing  in  the  mercy  of  God, 
more  than  in  his  judgments  and  righteousness.  We  need 
the  conception  of  a  God  who  is  infinitely  righteous,  and  who 
is  stirring  the  world  up  to  righteousness.  We  do  not  want  a 
God  who  does  not  care,  and  who  would  let  the  world  go  into 
a  elough.  We  do  not  want  a  God  who  will  not  hold  men 
responsible,  and  who  will  not  visit  them  with  pain  and  pen- 
alty for  violation.  We  want  a  God  who  shall  be  a  school- 
master that  is  exacting,  and  demand  that  his  pupils  shall  per- 
form their  duties ;  but  we  want  him  to  be  a  schoolmaster  who 
shall  work  out  the  peaceable  fruit  of  knowledge  in  the  school 
boys,  and  make  lovely  characters  in  them. 

Those  are  not  the  best  parents  who  do  not  care  whether 
their  children  go  right  or  wrong.  Good  parents  will  determine 
that  their  children  shall  go  right ;  and  while  they  resort  to 
severe  measures  to  secure  their  obedience,  they  will  have  the 
welfare  of  those  children  before  them,  and  they  will  love 
them,  and  will  wait  and  suffer  for  them.  The  love  of  a  true 
parent  will  empty  itself  for  the  child,  and  make  itself  the 
minister  and  servant  of  the  child's  wants.  The  parent  that 
is  wise  and  faithful  will  use  pain  and  fear,  as  well  as  love,  for 
the  exaltation  of  the  child. 

And  we  need  the  view  of  a  father  God,  who  has  deter- 
mined in  his  infinite  warmth  of  love  that  the  whole  creation 
shall  yet  be  glorified,  ransomed,  saved  ;  and  who,  in  time  and 
eternity,  by  joy,  by  sorrow,  by  pain,  by  pleasure,  by  fear,  by 
hope,  by  all  motives,  administers  for  the  upbuilding  of  the 
entire  race. 

This  is  a  conception  of  God  before  which  my  soul  can 


THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS.  439 

bow.  I  could  not  bow  before  a  despot.  I  say  freely  that 
there  have  been  views  of  God  taught  aud  held  up  which  are 
abhorrent  to  that  spirit  which  has  been  bred  in  me  by  the 
familiarity  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  the  moral  sense  which  I  have 
derived  from  my  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus.  Humility  and 
gentleness  and  meekness,  so  far  as  I  have  had  them  sown  in 
me,  rise  up  in  revolt  at  such  ideas  of  God's  character  as  have 
been  made  supreme  in  theology.  I  rebel  against  them  with  all 
the  strength  that  there  is  in  me.  I  resist  such  aspersions  upon 
the  life  and  example  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  upon  the 
character  of  Almighty  God.  I  protest  against  such  slanders 
of  the  grandeur  and  glory  of  the  topmost  heaven. 

But  when  you  reveal  to  me  that  the  regnant  Power  of  the 
universe  governs  nations  and  individuals  by  material  forces, 
by  ten  thousand  cogent  motives,  by  all  the  influences  that  can 
touch  all  sides  of  human  nature,  but  that  he  governs  them  in 
love,  with  infinite  patience,  for  the  growth  and  increase  of  all 
his  creatures,  and  that  when  I  say  "  Our  Father  which  art  in 
heaven  "  I  utter  a  vaster  truth  than  any  fatherhood  on  earth 
can  interpret  to  me  and  make  me  understand — when  you  re- 
veal to  me  such  a  God  as  that,  everything  that  is  within  me 
bows  down  before  it.  I  admire,  I  love,  I  adore,  I  follow,  and  I 
am  smitten  through  with  a  sense  of  my  infinite  unworthiness, 
when  I  think  of  what  such  an  One  is,  and  of  what  I  am — of  the 
contumescence  of  my  pride,  of  the  infiltrations  of  my  selfish- 
ness, and  of  the  despotic  sides  of  my  experience,  instead  of 
self-sacrificing  and  self -renouncing  sides  of  that  experience. 

God  is  crucified.  Do  you  shrink  from  that  ?  Have  you 
been  brought  up  to  think  that  God  must  be  One  who  is  lifted 
above  the  power  of  pain  ?  Stop,  and  think  again.  What 
would  you  think  of  a  man  on  earth  who  was  so  perfect  that 
he  could  not  suffer  for  a  friend  ?  What  would  you  think  of 
a  woman  who  was  so  serene,  with  a  face  enameled  and  white, 
that  she  could  see  sickness  and  sorrow  and  anguish  and  death 
come  into  her  family,  and  sit  sweet  and  happy  ?  What  would 
you  think  of  one  who  was  so  perfect  that  he  could  remain 
tranquil  and  undisturbed  in  the  midst  of  sorrows  in  over- 
measure  on  every  side  ?  Would  you  consider  absence  from 
pain  under  such  circumstances  as  perfection  ?  Would  you 


440  THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS. 

not  feel  everything  that  was  generous  in  your  soul  revolting 
at  such  a  conception  as  that  ?  I  say  that  a  being  who  cannot 
suffer  for  another  is  despicable.  The  idea  of  such  a  being  is 
hateful. 

Do  you  shrink  from  worshiping  Christ  ?  What !  do  you 
shrink  from  worshiping  that  Name  which  is  above  every 
name — the  Name  at  the  sound  of  which  every  knee  shall  bow, 
and  which  every  tongue  shall  confess  as  Lord  to  the  glory  of 
God  ?  Is  there  not  full  and  glorious  permission  here  ? 

I  call  upon  every  man  who  has  a  sense  of  what  is  worthy 
in  the  noblest  conception  of  manhood  to  look  up  to  that  yet 
nobler  conception  of  which  these  are  but  analogies  and 
emblems — to  the  glorious  sacrifice  of  Christ  asjin  interpreting 
element  of  the  divine  nature — to  God,  who  rules  over  the 
whole  world. 

Are  you  unwilling  to  be  his  friend  ?  Are  you  unwilling 
to  be  his  disciple  ?  Are  you  willing  to  take  upon  you  the 
cross,  and  to  live  a  life  in  which  you  shall  give  up  yourself  for 
the  sake  of  helping  others — not  every  moment,  but  in  great 
lines  and  in  organized  elements  of  duty  ?  If  any  man  have 
not  the  spirit  of  Christ  he  is  none  of  his.  You  may  have  the 
spirit  of  the  Pharisee — you  may  never  drink  ;  you  may  never 
chew  tobacco ;  you  may  never  swear ;  you  may  never  shave 
nor  black  your  boots  on  Sunday ;  and  you  may  thank  God 
that  you  are  so  regular,  eating  and  drinking  just  enough,  and 
not  a  bit  too  much,  owing  nobody  anything,  and  paying  your 
taxes  regularly,  and  living,  oh  how  gloriously  !  And  the  more 
gloriously  you  live,  the  more  you  admire  yourself ;  and  the 
more  you  admire  yourself  the  more  you  marvel  that  your 
neighbors  are  so  imperfect ;  and  when  they  suffer,  you  say, 
"  They  ought  never  to  have  done  so  :  why  do  they  not  do  as 
I  do  ?" 

Is  that  the  soul  of  manhood  ?  Is  that  your  conception  of 
manliness  ?  Is  not  one  to  be  in  sympathy  with  the  infirmi- 
ties of  men  ?  He  who  holds  himself  to  be  a  servant  of  men 
looks  humbly  upon  his  own  attainments.  Is  not  that  the 
more  generous  and  the  nobler  way  ?  Is  it  not  that  that 
the  world  lacks  ?  Is  it  not  that,  after  all,  which  is  to  consti- 
tute the  triumph  of  Christianity  ? 


THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS.  441 

We  have  had  almost  everything  that  has  been  tried  as 
Christianity.  Christianity  has  had  its  period  of  athletic 
intellectualism ;  and  the  reason  has  not  yet  unfolded  to  the 
world  what  the  world  dies  for  the  lack  of.  We  have  had 
all  that  was  esthetic.  We  have  had  all  the  glory  and  gor- 
geousness  of  beauty.  We  have  had  all  that  there  was  in  elo- 
quence and  poetry.  These  things  have  been  thrown  about 
the  service  of  the  sanctuary.  And  yet,  the  consciousness 
of  the  real  God  who  sits  in  the  heaven  has  not  been  brought 
to  the  world.  The  power  for  which  the  world  yet  waits  is  — 
the  revelation  of  that  inner  nature  of  God  which  stands  in 
willingness  to  suffer,  and  which  teaches  us  that  our  greatness 
lies,  not  so  much  in  what  we  get  as  in  what  we  give — not 
in  our  centripetal,  but  in  our  centrifugal  force. 

All  creation  groans  and  travails  in  pain,  and  it  will  stop 
groaning  and  travailing  as  soon  as  men  live  like  Christ.  ' 
There  will  be  no  more  question  whether  Christianity  is  true 
or  not  as  soon  as  men  become  noble  and  beautiful  and  radi- 
ant in  those  dispositions  which  constitute  the  elements  of 
Christ's  life,  and  of  which  Paul  said,  "  I  will  know  nothing 
,but  these."  As  soon  as  there  is  this  living  Christ  diffused 
among  men  there  will  be  an  end  of  controversy,  and  men  will 
learn  not  merely  that,  but  that  there  is  a  power  in  those  dis- 
positions before  which  all  other  powers  fall  down. 

It  is  not  by  mighty  combination,  or  by  instituted  forces, 
or  by  argument,  that  the  world  is  to  be  redeemed,  but  by  the 
secret,  silent  power  of  souls  that  are  baptized  into  the  spirit 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  One  single  heroic  deed  is  worth 
more  than  any  Athenian  oration.  One  who  shows  the  capa-  <- 
city  to  lift  human  nature  to  a  higher  level  of  excellence  than 
it  has  yet  attained  is  an  apostle  of  God  to  the  world ;  and 
the  race  grows  by  its  power  to  do  the  things  which  the  animals 
cannot  do,  and  that  can  be  done  only  by  a  consciousness  of 
human  possibility.  If  we  are  to  grow  in  knowledge,  we  must 
grow  in  that  direction. 

Now  you  are  prepared,  perhaps,  to  understand  so  much — 
for  there  is  much  that  in  the  wisdom  of  God  is  not  solved  yet. 

"We  speak  God  in  a  mystery,  even  the  hidden  wisdom,  which 
God  ordained  before  the  world  unto  our  glory;  but  as  it  is  written, 


442  THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS. 

Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart 
of  tnan,  the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  him. 
But  God  hath  revealed  them  unto  us  by  his  Spirit;  for  the  Spirit 
searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things  of  God.  For  what  man 
knoweth  the  things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of  man  which  is  in  him  ? 
Even  so  the  things  of  God  knoweth  no  man,  but  the  Spirit  of  God." 

We  interpret  these  things  so  far  as  we  have  the  Spirit  of 
God.  All  the  sensibility  of  that  moral  consciousness  which 
springs  from  love  is  nourished  by  love,  and  has  its  whole 
power  from  love. 

God  grant  that  every  one  of  us  may  have  this  new  light, 
this  new  knowledge,  this  new  sympathy,  this,  new  disclosure. 
God  grant  that  we  may,  every  one  of  us,  by  word,  by  silence, 
by  deed,  by  forbearance,  by  activity,  or  by  rest,  make  man- 
ifest that  Christ  is  in  us,  and  that  we  have  put  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  So  may  our  whole  life  be  a  preaching  of  the 
gospel — a  manifestation  of  the  glory  of  him  whose  name  we 
bear,  and  whose  spirit  exalts  us  to  communion,  and  to  under- 
standing, is  by-and-by  it  shall  to  fellowship,  in  the  very 
presence  of  God. 


THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS.  443 


PRAYEK  BEFOEE  THE  SERMON. 

WE  bless  thy  name,  our  Father,  for  that  revelation  which  thou 
hast  made  of  thyself  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  We  thank  thee 
that  thou  art  interpreting  that  revelation  itself  in  our  own  experi- 
ence. We  thank  thee  that  thou  art,  by  transforming  us  into  the 
spirit  of  Jesus,  making  us  to  understand  him,  and  through  him  the 
Father;  and  that  thou  art  drawing  us  into  life  deeper,  and  sweeter, 
and  more  full  of  knowledge,  than  can  come  by  the  natural  reason,  or 
than  we  can  learn  from  the  world  that  is  outside  of  us.  We  rejoice 
in  the  power  of  the  divine  Spirit,  in  the  recreation  and  transforma- 
tion of  the  souls  of  men,  in  the  communion  between  us  and  thee,  iu 
all  those  great  offices  and  influences  by  which  we  are  lifted  above  the 
flesh,  out  of  the  realm  of  passion,  and  into  the  plenitude  of  the  grace 
of  God — into  that  peace  which  passeth  all  understanding — into  that 
sympathy  which  interprets  to  us,  far  beyond  the  reach  of  reason, 
and  gives  us  the  secret  and  mystery  of  God,  so  that  by  the  spirit  we 
understand  the  hidden  things  of  the  spirit.  We  thank  thee  for  all 
the  hours  of  strength  which  we  have  had  in  the  midst  of  weakness, 
and  for  all  the  days  of  consolation  which  we  have  had  in  the  midst  of 
great  troubles.  For  thou  hast  often  seen  us  toiling  upon  the  sea,  and 
with  the  winds,  without  direction,  and  unable  to  make  our  way,  and 
thou  hast  come  toward  us,  walking  on  the  turbulent  waves;  and  we 
have  been  terrified;  and  our  fear  and  hope  have  struggled  together; 
and  yet,  when  thou  didst  come  to  us,  and  wert  near  to  us,  and  didst 
ascend  into  the  ship,  behold,  straightway  we  were  whither  we  would 
go.  So  thou  hast  dealt  with  us  in  light  and  in  darkness.  And  in 
summing  up  our  experience,  in  looking  back  upon  all  our  life  and 
thy  ways  with  us,  we  would  call  thee  Him  who  does  exceeding 
abundantly  more  than  we  can  ask  or  think.  Thou  hast  dealt  with 
us  more  graciously  than  we  deserved.  Thou  bast  dealt  with  us 
wondrously.  Our  souls  are  witnesses  of  thy  goodness.  Thy  mercies 
are  ever  new ;  and  we  call  upon  our  souls,  and  all  that  is  within  us,  to 
praise  thy  name.  We  bow  our  knee  to  that  name  which  is  above 
every  name;  and  we  call  thee  Lord,  and  our  Lord.  And  we  rejoice, 
O  thou  ascended  Prince  and  Saviour,  that  whatever  is  needful  for  us 
within  the  spirit  land— whatever  supplications,  or  intercessions,  or 
mediation— thou  dost  make  in  love.  Whatever  defense  or  convoy 
thou  dost  send  forth  in  our  behalf,  thou  grantest  not  according  to 
the  wisdom  of  our  asking,  but  according  to  the  greatness  of  thy  life. 

Now,  we  do  desire  not  to  stand  in  ourselves.  Knowing  how  feeble 
we  are  in  things  high,  and  how  strong  we  are  in  things  that  are 
prone  to  the  earth ;  knowing  how  strong  we  are  in  the  flesh,  and  how 
poor  in  the  spirit,  we  do  not  desire  to  stand  in  our  own  merit,  nor  our 
own  excellence,  in  any  way  whatsoever.  We  rejoice  that  our  excel- 
lency is  in  thee.  Thou  that  hast  lent  thyself  to  us;  thou  that  hast 
called  us  thine  own— thou  that  callest  us  no  longer  servants,  but 
henceforth  friends,  and  not  friends  alone,  but  children;  thou  that 
hast  coupled  us  to  thyself,  and  by  the  bonds  of  omnipotent  love  art 
drawing  us  to  thee  in  an  inseparable  union— we  rejoice  in  thy  great 
grace  and  glory  as  in  part  our  own.  For  we  are  heirs  of  God,  and 


444  THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS. 

joint-heirs  with  Jesus  Christ,  and  are  glad  that  the  things  which  we 
win  are  all  the  better  because  they  are  of  God,  since  they  are  in  a 
sweet  and  blessed  partnership  of  ownership  with  Jesus  Christ. 

And  now,  we  pray  that  we  may  stand  thus  girded  about  with  this 
belief,  inspired  with  all  the  hopes  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  May 
we  be  steadfast,  unmovable,  always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the 
Lord,  forasmuch  as  we  know  that  our  labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the 
Lord. 

Vouchsafe,  we  pray  thee,  thine  especial  thought  and  mercy, 
to-night,  to  all  that  are  grouped  together  here.  This  has  been  a  tem- 
ple of  the  revelation  of  thy  goodness.  Thousands  here  have  dropped 
the  tears  of  sorrow,  but  have  lifted  up  eyes  of  gladness  in  the  midst 
of  sorrow,  and  in  spite  of  it.  Many  have  come  grievously  burdened, 
and  behold,  here  the  burden  has  been  swept  away.  Thou  hast  made 
this  place  sacred,  not  by  the  hands  of  men,  not  by  any  external  act,  but 
by  the  grace  of  God,  by  the  ministration  of  the  spirit;  and  this  place 
— how  beautiful  is  it !  It  is  to  many  of  us  the  very  gate  of  heaven ; 
for  here  we  have  stood  and  seen  the  golden  leaves  thrown  wide  open, 
and  we  have  beheld  the  glory  of  God.  We  have  beheld  the  crowned 
Saviour.  We  have  followed  thither,  in  the  inspired  and  raptured 
hours  of  the  sanctuary,  those  who  have  gone  out  from  us,  dearly 
beloved  brethren  who  have  labored  with  us  in  word  and  doctrine. 
We  have  sent  heavenward  many  saintly  companions,  and  a  multitude 
of  little  ones;  we  have  beheld  them  shine  brighter  and  purer  than 
stars,  and  have  rejoiced  in  sorrow,  and  have  taken  comfort  through 
faith.  Even  in  the  midst  of  adversities  and  trials,  how  sacred  is  this 
place! 

Now,  let  it  be  again,  to-night,  a  place  of  divine  ministration. 
Bebuke  those  who  need  rebuke.  Be  faithful  to  thy  beloved.  Give 
pain  where  pain  is  required  for  medicine.  Withhold  not  thy  hand. 
Chastise  if  thou  lovest:  or,  forbear  as  thou  wilt;  only  let  us  know 
that  thou  art  dealing  with  us  in  love,  as  a  father  deals  with  his 
children.  Give  great  strength  to  those  who  are  greatly  tried ;  great 
patience  to  those  whose  trials  continue;  great  light  and  clarity 
of  judgment  to  those  who  are  in  perplexity;  and  great  manliness 
and  courage  to  those  who  are  grievously  beset  and  tempest-tossed. 

Grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  every  one  may  find  his  strength  to  be  as 
his  day  is.  So  may  it  not  be  a  vain  thing  that  we  have  come  hither. 
May  we  have  such  growth  in  the  inward  life,  and  such  consolation  of 
the  divine  spirit,  such  insight  of  things  which  lie  beyond  the  sense?, 
that  this  shall  continue  to  be  as  the  gate  of  heaven. 

We  pray  for  all  of  our  absent  ones— for  those  upon  the  sea,  for 
those  in  the  wilderness,  and  for  those  in  distant  lands. 

We  pray  for  those  who  are  strangers  in  our  midst.  We  pray  that 
thou  wilt  look  upon  them,  and  grant  that  here,  in  this  house,  they 
may  find  themselves  at  home  with  the  brethren  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
with  the  Lord.  Here  may  they  find,  for  the  moment,  all  the  pleni- 
tude of  divine  grace  and  consolation.  And  wilt  thou  bless  those 
whom  they  have  left  behind.  Hear  their  prayers,  listen  to  their 
desires,  we  beseech  of  thee,  for  their  beloved  ones;  and  answer 
abundantly. 


THE  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS.  445 

We  pray  for  any  who  have  come  in  hither  forlorn,  strangers, 
unfriended,  knowing  not  whither  to  go  or  what  to  do.  By  thy  provi- 
dence be  gracious  unto  them.  And  may  they  not  lose  faith,  nor 
hope,  nor  courage;  but  to  the  end,  with  all  manliness,  may  they 
patiently  persevere  in  the  things  that  are  right. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  deliver  any  who  are  in  the  thrall  of  temp- 
tation ;  any  that  have  been  misled ;  any  that  are  in  those  sorrows 
which  come  from  remorse ;  any  that  have  fallen ;  wilt  thou  graciously 
lift  them  up,  and  teach  us  to  have  compassion  upon  them.  May  we 
deal  with  them  forbearingly,  knowing  that  we,  too,  may  be  tempted. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  spread  abroad  that  spirit  by  which  thou 
dost  cleanse  the  world  of  transgression,  in  the  hearts  of  thy  people. 
Take  away  the  distemperature  of  passion,  of  irritableness,  of  pride, 
of  the  dominion  of  men's  selfishness  one  over  another.  Bring  men 
together  in  love,  and  in  mutual  respect,  each  recognizing  that  the 
other  is  a  servant  of  God. 

So  we  pray  that  every  one  may  stand  to  his  own  Master,  unhin- 
dered, unyoked,  unshackled.  Grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  more  and 
more  there  may  be  all  freedom  in  the  church  of  Christ,  and  that  all 
those  collisions,  and  envyings,  and  hateful  jealousies  which  have 
prevailed  in  days  gone  by  may  be  purged  away.  And  let  that  bright 
day  come,  at  last,  when  love,  the  sweetest,  shall  become  the  strongest 
of  all  things.  More  and  more  let  thy  pure  light  shine  from  out  of  the 
heaven,  and  all  impure  light  depart  whence  it  came.  Let  thy  king- 
dom come  and  thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 

And  to  the  Father,  the  Sou,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  shall  be  praises 
everlasting.  Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

OUR  Father,  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  bless  us  in  the  truth  that  we 
have  contemplated ;  but  bless  us  yec  more,  we  beseech  of  thee,  in  the 
attempt  to  render  that  truth  into  our  own  lives.  We  know  the  right 
way.  Thou  art  pleased,  at  times,  to  put  our  feet  upon  the  mount  of 
transfiguration ;  and  we  discern  thee  in  the  radiance  of  thy  glorified 
form.  And  yet,  when  we  come  down  again,  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
taiu  are  demoniac  influences,  and  all  weaknesses  of  men.  We  fain 
would  live  far  above  human  infirmity,  and  build  our  tabernacles 
where  thou  art  beautiful.  We  would  fain  not  go  down  into  life 
to  bear  its  sins,  and  burdens,  and  cares.  Grant  that  we  may  have  a 
better  mind.  May  we  not  only  determine  to  avail  ourselves  of  that 
salvation  which  is  offered  to  us  through  Jesus  Christ  by  his  suffering, 
willingly  borne  for  our  sakes  and  for  the  sakes  of  all  creation ;  but 
may  we  ourselves  become  like  unto  him.  And  in  the  same  way  may 
we  more  and  more  develop  that  side  which  is  full  of  sweetness  and 
full  of  medicine  for  souls  that  are  wounded.  And  so  we  pray  that 
thou  wilt  grant  to  all  thy  ohuroh  the  unfolding  in  them  of  that 
which  is  lik<-  thee.  O,  bring  near  to  us  a  sense  of  God's  humiliation, 


446  2*HB  SECRET  OF  THE  CROSS. 

and  the  beauty  of  it;  God's  service,  and  the  need  of  it.  Grant,  we 
pray  thee,  that  we  may  accept  those  things  which  the  world  despises; 
and  though  to  them  who  understand  them  not  they  are  foolishness 
and  a  stumbling,  may  they  be  to  us  the  wisdom  of  God  and  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation.  We  ask  it  in  the  adorable  name  of  Jesus,  to 
whom,  with  the  Father  and  the  Spirit,  shall  be  praises  everlasting. 
Amen. 


RESOLVING  AND  DOING. 


"Wherefore,  my  beloved,  as  ye  have  always  obeyed,  not  as  in  my 
presence  only,  but  now  much  more  in  my  absence,  work  out  your 
own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling.  For  it  is  God  which  worketh 
in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure."— PHH*  ii.,  12, 13. 


It  would  seem  from  this  declaration,  abundantly  corrobo- 
rated elsewhere,  that  salvation  is  not  a  decree  or  simple  act. 
We  are  not  brought  by  any  overwhelming  shock  or  impulse 
into  an  absolute  salvable  state.  It  is  a  condition  which  is  to 
be  wrought  out  as  education  is,  by  adopting  right  lines,  by 
pursuing  rational  methods,  and  by  continuing  therein  until 
we  have  gained  foothold  and  strength.  There  is  a  nature  in 
man  that  is  right.  That  which  is  called  our  corrupt  human 
nature  designates  simply  the  wrong  uses  to  which  men  have 
put  right  faculties.  There  is  a  right  nature.  The  rea- 
son, in  and  of  itself,  is  right.  Its  uses  may  be  perverted, 
but  the  faculty  is  right.  The  affections  are  right;  and  if 
they  are  rightly  used  they  are  virtues,  they  are  graces,  they 
are  undoubted  excellences ;  but  they  all  need  development. 
They  need  to  be  applied  more  and  more  to  every  part  of  life. 
There  is  a  work  of  education  for  the  body,  with  which  we 
are  familiar ;  there  is  a  work  of  education  for  the  mind,  in 
the  adapting  it  to  the  various  objects  and  ends  of  life,  with 
which  we  are  familiar ;  and  in  the  household  there  is  more 
or  less  training  of  the  disposition.  Those  who  have  the  good 
fortune  to  be  brought  up  under  wise  parents  know  what  it  is 
to  be  under  discipline  and  education — under  restraint  against 

SUNDAY  MORNING,  March  s,  1874.  LESSON  :  Psalm  xo.  UYMNS  (Plymouth  Col- 
lection) :  Nos.  578.  513  657. 


450  RESOLVING  AND  DOING. 

that  which  is  evil,  and  under  stimulus  to  that  which  is 
good. 

Now,  this  analogy  goes  on,  and  all  the  mind's  moral  sen- 
timents are  the  subjects  of  development  and  of  education. 
And  the  importance  of  education  increases  as  you  rise  toward 
the  realm  of  the  higher  feelings,  or  those  which  work  toward 
the  invisible — those  that  are  under  spiritual  instincts  or  sen- 
timents. And  it  is  in  this  direction  that  man's  salvation 
lies,  in  so  far  as  the  human  side  is  concerned.  To  be  saved 
is  to  be  salvable — to  be  in  a  condition  which  implies  and  per- 
mits salvation  ;  and  this  is  man's  work.  We  are  to  work  out 
our  own  salvation.  More  than  that,  much  is  implied  in  the 
qualification,  "  with  fear  and  trembling." 

Now,  there  are  a  great  many  kinds  of  fear,  some  of  which 
are  very  coarse,  appropriate  to  low  and  almost  brutal  natures, 
and  unworthy  of  a  man  more  highly  and  truly  developed. 
The  fear  that  you  would  apply  to  a  savage  is  inappropriate  to 
a  civilized  man ;  and  the  fear  which  you  would  search  for 
among  civilized  men  that  roam  the  plain  is  quite  out  of  place 
among  those  that  live  in  retirement,  and  are  conscientiously 
attempting  to  act  according  to  justice.  The  fear  and  the 
trembling  with  which  we  are  to  work  out  our  salvation  indi- 
cate intensity — that  kind  of  apprehension  with  which  men 
tremble  under  excitement  when  they  are  pursuing  an  object 
that  is  exceedingly  dear  to  them :  not  fear  in  the  sense  of 
pungent  dread  or  terror;  but  that  fear  which  produces  appre- 
hensiveness,  keenness  of  desire  and  unwillingness  to  lose. 
There  is  a  sort  of  half  feeling  of  uncertainty  in  connection 
with  it,  !n  all  the  great  pursuits  of  life — in  the  things 
which  absorb  us,  and  in  which  we  have  planted  ourselves. 
We  are  familiar  with  this  kind  of  anxiety.  We  work  for 
wealth;  and  we  work  in  competitions  for  a  place  or  for  a 
name ;  we  work  in  society  for  the  favor  of  those  whom 
we  wonld  win ;  we  work  for  ambition;  we  work  for  all  the 
great  ends  of  life  that  stimulate  men;  and  we  work  for  them 
with  this  very  trembling  apprehensiveness.  We  put  our  heart 
into  them  so  that  it  quivers  with  anxiety.  So  the  command 
is,  Work  out  your  religious  character;  work  out  purity,  and 
humility,  and  gentleness,  and  mercy,  and  truth.  All  divine 


RESOLVING  AND  DOING.  451 

fruits  are  of  the  divine  Spirit;  work  them  out,  with  such 
earnestness  that  you  shall  be  full  of  fear  and  of  trembling — 
that  kind  of  fear  and  trembling  which  men  have  in  other 
pursuits,  where  their  hearts  are  wholly  engrossed. 

The  conception  of  highest  manhood  —  the  Christian 
manhood,  that  manhood  which  is  the  fruit  of  the  divine 
Spirit  working  on  the  soul — is  to  be  pursued,  then,  not  list- 
lessly nor  indifferently.  The  path  to  it  was  never  yet  so 
plain  or  so  easy  to  a  man  in  every  part  of  his  nature  that 
you  are  likely  to  stumble  on  it,  and,  without  knowing  it, 
find  that  you  are  a  thoroughly  Christianized  man.  There 
never  was  a  man  so  favorably  made  or  placed  that  it  re- 
quired no  will  or  effort  on  his  part  to  rise  into  the  fullness 
of  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ.  All  the  original  tendencies 
of  the  mind  involve  in  them  more  or  less  of  self-seeking — 
more  or  less  of  the  carnal  elements;  and  no  man  rises  into 
a  truly  Christian  or  Christlike  spirit, — by  which,  instead  of 
evil,  he  loves  good,  and  instead  of  self-seeking  seeks  the 
welfare  of  another,  and  the  glory  of  God,  the  invisible  Being 
of  creation, — without  strenuous  efforts;  and  this  not  once 
for  all,  but  continuously,  as  against  the  world,  as  against  his 
own  passions  and  appetites,  as  against  social  wrongs,  and  as 
against  the  temptations  that  spring  from  business.  By  all 
those  influences  men  are  held  back  from  the  attempt  to  live 
upon  a  high  plane  a  truly  spiritual  and  Christian  life. 

Now  comes  the  declaration,  "It  is  God  that  worketh  in 
you."  A  great  many,  when  it  is  taught  that  men  are  to 
work  out  their  own  salvation,  are  afraid  that  it  will  inspire 
men  with  a  vain  confidence.  They  feel  it  to  be  important  to 
teach  men  that  they  are  absolutely  dependent  upon  God,  and 
that  without  him  they  can  do  nothing.  That  is  all  very  true; 
yet  I  have  never  seen  any  particular  reason  why  men  should 
be  taught  that.  Suppose  I  were  to  say  to  a  man  who  had  my 
microscope,  and  who  was  about  to  examine  objects,  "  Now, 
my  friend,  I  want  you  to  understand  that  your  eyesight,  your 
vision,  is  absolutely  dependent  upon  the  light.  Bear  that  in 
mind  every  time  you  undertake  to  look  through  the  micro- 
scope. There  is  no  such  thing  as  vision  without  light,  and 
you  are  dependent  upon  the  light."  Suppose  I  should  say 


452  RESOLVING  AND  DOING. 

to  the  farmer,  "  Work  your  farm ;  but  remember  tbat  you 
are  dependent  on  tbe  seasons."  Suppose  I  were  to  say  to  the 
hungry  man,  "Now,  my  friend,  here  is  food;  but  I  want 
you  to  understand  that  you  are  entirely  dependent  upon  this 
food  for  life  and  strength."  Of  course  he  is.  Everybody 
knows  that  already. 

Some  theologians  are  very  much  afraid  that  we  will  teach 
men  that  they  can  help  themselves.  They  stop  us,  they  put 
us  back,  and  say,  "You  must  honor  God  in  everything." 
I,  too,  think  we  ought  to  honor  God  in  everything.  "You 
must  not  take  away  from  God  the  glory  of  working  out  the 
salvation  of  men.  Men  cannot  save  themselves.  They 
depend  upon  God.  A  man  cannot  see  without  eyes  ;  a  man 
cannot  eat  without  a  mouth  ;  a  man  cannot  live  without  the 
conditions  of  life ;  a  man  cannot  do  anything  unless  he  has 
been  born."  All  these  things  are  very  true.  But,  really,  is 
it  the  way  to  inspire  men,  to  say  to  them,  "You  have  no 
natural  power ;  you  lost  it  by  the  fall — whatever  that  was ; 
you  are  all  dependent  upon  God  ;  and  it  is  presumption  for 
you  to  undertake  to  endue  yourself  with  those  attributes  or 
states  of  mind  that  are  wrought  out  in  men  by  God's  Spirit "  ? 
Men  seem  to  feel,  as  to  this  matter,  that  it  is  almost  a  forgery 
for  a  man  to  attempt  to  endue  himself  with  humility,  with 
meekness,  with  faith,  with  aspiration,  with  love,  with  hope, 
and  with  power  in  it.  They  think  it  to  be  somewhat  as  if  a 
man  should  write  his  father's  name  on  a  check,  when  only 
his  father  has  any  business  to  write  his  name  there.  It 
seems  to  be  thought  that  God  has  a  right  to  instill  in  men 
right  purposes  and  resolutions,  but  men  have  no  right  to  as- 
sume them.  And  when  we  quote  the  passage,  "Work  out 
your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling,"  they  say,  "Ah, 
yes!  but  don't  you  see  that  it  also  says,  "God  worketh  in 
you "  ?  Yes,  that  is  the  ground  on  ivliicli  I  exhort  men  to 
work,  that  God  works  in  them — that  he  works  incessantly  in 
them,  by  ten  thousand  more  modes  than  we  know  of  or  sus- 
pect :  not  alone  in  the  ways  which  we  point  out  in  our  ser- 
mons, but  in  a  multitude  of  ways  besides ;  not  alone  in  the 
ways  in  which  men's  thoughts  and  feelings  rise  from  low  to 
high,  and  in  which  their  feelings  grow  and  swell  like  tides, 


RESOLVING  AND  DOING.  453 

but  ID  infinite  ways ;  not  alone  during  revivals,  not  alone 
during  impressive  hours  on  Sundays,  in  the  church,  but  al- 
ways and  continually  the  great  brooding  soul  of  God  over- 
hangs the  race,  and  there  are  down-dropping  influences 
exerted  upon  men  perpetually,  and  operating  upon  their 
souls,  dissuading  or  persuading,  arousing  or  fortifying.  In 
multitudes  of  ways,  beyond  our  conception,  the  vivific  na- 
ture of  God  is  carrying  life  and  power  to  human  souls 
everywhere. 

When,  then,  I  urge  men  to  work  out  their  own  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling, — that  is,  with  earnestness, — and 
say  to  them,  "It  is  God  that  worketh  in  you,"  they  say,  "If 
God  is  working  in  me,  there  won't  be  any  need  of  my 
working."  Why  not?  The  apostle  says,  in  Corinthians, 
"Workers  together  with  God."  Cannot  two  work  at  the 
same  thing  ?  Is  it  impossible  that  there  should  be  two  work- 
ers, and  that  there  should  be  two  influences,  one  from  above, 
and  that  they  should  meet  and  co-operate  ? 

I  say  to  a  child,  "Now,  attend,  my  daughter,  because 
your  mother  is  watching  you,  and  taking  care  of  you,  and 
helping  you  at  every  step.  Give  yourself  to  your  studies  and 
duties  ;"  and  she  says,  "  But  if  mother  is  going  to  take  care  of 
them  I  do  not  need  to."  But  do  not  the  child  and  the  mother 
and  father  co-operate  ?  Do  not  the  pupil  and  the  teacher 
co-operate  ?  Is  not  the  action  of  the  scholar  as  necessary  as 
that  of  the  teacher  ?  The  teacher  stimulates,  but  the  scholar 
studies.  There  never  was  a  teacher  so  skillful  that  he  could 
understand  anything  for  his  pupil.  Every  boy  has  to  under- 
stand for  himself.  We  talk  about  being  self-educated,  as  if 
that  were  a  rare  achievement.  There  never  was  a  man  who 
could  educate  another  man.  You  can  store  up  knowledge, 
and  educate  yourself ;  but  no  man  can  educate  you.  All 
education  is  self -education,  in  the  nature  of  things. 

And  so,  if  it  be  declared  that  the  divine  Spirit  is  working 
in  us,  it  does  not  mean  that  it  does  our  work  for  us,  and  then 
infixes  it  in  us.  The  work  of  conversion  is  not  as  if  one 
made  up  the  whole  work  of  a  clock,  and  went  and  put  it  into 
the  empty  case,  each  part  in  its  place,  and  wound  it,  and  set 
the  pendulum  a-going,  and  said,  "Go  on  and  tick."  Char- 


454  RESOLVING  AND  DOING. 

acter  is  not  made  in  that  way.  It  is  not  first  constructed 
and  then  put  in  its  place.  Where  there  is  a  rightly  formed 
character,  there  are  aspirations  of  soul,  and  lofty  desires,  and 
gracious  affections ;  and  these  things  we  develop.  We  as 
really  develop  them  by  that  which  is  in  us,  as  they  are  devel- 
oped by  that  which  is  in  God ;  and  that  which  is  in  us,  and 
that  which  is  in  him,  co-work.  And  the  command  is, 
"  Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling ;  for 
it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you,  both  to — "  What  ?  Two 
things  that  are  the  most  difficult  in  the  world — "  to  will  and 
to  do." 

Here  is  where  men  especially  need  divine  help — to  will 
that  which  is  right.  Many  persons  see  what  is  right,  but 
they  look  upon  it  just  as  they  in  the  street  look  on  objects 
that  do  not  belong  to  them,  and  never  will.  They  discern 
the  right,  but  they  do  not  will  to  follow  it.  Many  persons 
admire  what  is  right  in  others — in  a  vision  of  the  imagina- 
tion they  admire  it — without  any  sense  of  its  relation  to  their 
personality.  Many  men  that  lie  admire  the  truth.  Many 
that  give  up  to  intemperance  admire  temperance.  Many 
who  are  dishonest  admire  honesty  in  others.  Many  men 
that  are  far  from  heroic  admire  heroism.  Indeed,  by  the  law 
of  compensation,  we  often  admire  most  that  which  we  have 
lost  ourselves ;  and  the  unvirtuous  admire  virtue ;  the  weak 
admire  strength,  and  so  on  through  the  whole  category. 

Then,  there  are  a  great  many  people  who  wish  right 
things,  but  do  not  will  them.  They  wish,  but  they  do  not 
put  forth  any  effort  to  gratify  that  wish.  There  never  was  a 
lazy  man,  probably,  that  did  not  wish  he  was  rich.  I  do  not 
believe  there  ever  was  a  man  in  the  world  who,  when  his  bad 
disposition  had  brought  him  to  grief,  did  not  wish  that  he 
had  a  better  disposition.  A  man  in  a  passion  offends  his  best 
friend,  and  he  says,  "  Plague  on  my  tongue  !  I  wish  it  was 
out ;  I  wish  I  could  govern  myself,  and  not  talk  so  as  to 
spoil  everything."  He  wishes;  oh,  yes,  he  wishes;  but 
wishing  is  not  willing.  There  is  something  more  in  willing 
than  in  wishing.  And  although  men  admire  and  wish,  they 
do  not  choose.  No  man  can  be  said  to  will  to  possess  or  to 
choose  any  object  or  any  grace,  until  he  does  something  more 


RESOLVING  AND  DOING.  455 

than  to  admire  it  and  to  wish  for  it.  No  man  wills  to  have 
the  truth  until  he  desires  it  more  than  he  does  untruth — 
until  it  is  predominant  in  him.  No  man  wills  to  be  indus- 
trious until  he  prefers  it  above  every  other  grace,  under  the 
circumstances. 

The  ox  does  not  want  to  walk  fast ;  but  when  you  keep 
goading,  goading  him,  then  he  wills  to  do  it ;  he  prefers  that 
to  the  other  thing  ;  but  it  is  not  until  he  prefers  it  and  does 
it  that  he  wills  it. 

A  man  living  in  a  certain  course  of  life,  and  feeling  that 
it  is  evil,  and  knowing  many  of  its  mischiefs,  talks  about  it, 
and  means  to  do  this,  that,  and  the  other  thing ;  but  it  is  not 
until  his  will,  under  the  concentration  of  'various  influences 
that  are  brought  to  bear  upon  him,  takes  hold  of  the  right 
thing  energetically,  that  it  can  be  said  that  he  has  willed  it. 

That  is  the  great  trouble  with  men  in  the  matter  of  relig- 
ion. Do  you  say  that  you  admire  religion  ?  There  is  not  a 
person  who  had  the  good  fortune,  of  all  fortunes  the  best,  of 
a  father  and  mother  that  belonged  to  the  church  and  had  a 
Christian  spirit  that  made  his  child-memory  of  them  sacred — 
there  is  not  a  person  like  that  who  can  look  back  upon  the 
lives  of  his  parents  without  saying,  "I  wish  I  were  as  good 
as  my  father.  He  was  a  better  man  than  I  am,  and  I  wish  I 
were  like  him." 

There  is  many  a  man  who  sits  at  the  table  and  gambles, 
where  the  coarse  joke  passes  backward  and  forward  ;  and  yet 
when  some  evil  story  strikes  at  his  mother,  he  stops  and  says, 
"  Now,  boys,  that  has  gone  far  enough  ;  I  am  not  going  to 
talk  about  that  any  longer."  He  is  low,  and  brutal,  and 
hard ;  but  he  has  a  tender  thought  of  his  mother ;  and  if, 
sometimes,  you  could  see  him  alone,  you  would  see  him 
melted  to  tears  by  his  recollections  of  her,  and  you  would 
hear  him  say,  "  I  wish  I  were  as  good  a  man  as  she  was  a 
woman."  He  admires  and  he  wishes;  but  that  is  all,  and 
nothing  comes  of  it. 

That  is  the  trouble.  You  do  not  go  far  enough.  You 
admire  virtues,  and  you  wish  you  had  them,  but  you  do  not 
take  the  proper  steps  to  acquire  them.  You  do  not  will  nor 
choose  to  have  them,  This  is  true  in  every  element  and 


456  RESOLVING  AND  DOING. 

department  of  life.  You  want  accomplishments,  you  want 
means,  you  wish  you  had  them,  but  you  are  not  willing  to 
pay  what  they  cost  of  strife  and  endeavor.  You  have  not 
the  patience  and  the  continuity  which  are  required  to  obtain 
them. 

And  that  is  the  very  point  where,  if  anybody  wants  help, 
God  stands  ready  to  grant  it.  He  works  in  men  "to  will." 
There  it  is,  therefore,  that  the  light  beams,  and  that  the 
blessing  comes.  There  is  hope  for  you,  if  you  wish,  and  if 
you  call  on  God  for  help  in  order  that  you  may  will,  and  that, 
willing,  you  may  do.  There  is  encouragement  for  every  man 
who  is  discontented  with  his  low  estate,  and  with  his  ignoble 
character.  Work  out  your  own  salvation,  for  God  will  work 
in  you  to  will.  Open  your  heart  to  him.  Lay  bare  your 
disposition  to  God.  There  is  an  influence  in  the  air,  a  uni- 
versal, divine  will,  atmospheric,  that  strengthens  men's 
wishes,  and  points  them,  acuminates  them,  and  empowers 
them,  until  they  become  determinations  and  choices. 

But,  when  a  man  has  chosen,  when  he  has  determined, 
is  he  safe  ?  No.  Paul  said,  "  To  will  is  present  with  me, 
but  how  to  perform  I  know  not."  How  many  men  have 
made  up  their  minds  and  changed  them  !  How  many  per- 
sons have  resolved,  and  have  failed  to  carry  out  their 
resolutions  !  How  many  men  form  purposes  that  they 
do  not  carry  out  !  I  think  our  resolutions  are  much- 
like  children's  amusements  when  they  blow  soap-bubbles. 
They  are  made  of  breath,  and  they  grow  larger,  and  they 
become  more  beautiful  as  they  grow  larger,  and  the  more 
beautiful  they  are  the  more  perishable  they  become ;  and  as 
they  are  shaken  from  the  pipe,  see  how  they  rise,  irridescent, 
reflecting  the  rarest  pictures ;  and  while  you  look  at  Athena 
they  are  not  there.  And  men — oh,  what  dreams  they  have 
of  virtues !  oh,  what  dreams  they  have  of  piety !  oh,  what 
resolutions  they  make  when  they  are  under  the  influence  of 
soul-subduing  music,  and  while  they  are  listening  to  the  dis- 
course which  satisfies  the  reason,  stealing  upon  the  affections 
and  the  tenderer  sentiments  !  How  often  men,  sitting  under 
such  circumstances,  say  to  themselves,  "  I  see  this  as  I  never 
saw  it  before,  and  I  will  go  home  and  change  my  life.  I  am 


RESOLVING  AND  DOING.  457 

determined  that,  by  the  grace  of  God,  I  will  be  a  better  man. 
I  will  have  prayers  to-night."  He  goes  home,  and  says, 
"Let  me  think  this  thing  over."  Somehow  the  colors  are 
not  so  bright  on  the  way  home  as  they  were  when  he  was  in 
church  and  listening  to  the  discourse.  When  he  gets  home, 
he  says,  "Well,  now,  my  wife  will  think  it  very  strange  ;  and 
I  will  put  it  off  until  to-morrow  morning,  and  then  I  will  tell 
her  and  the  children  that  I  am  going  to  turn  over  a  new  leaf, 
and  have  prayers,  and  live  a  reformed  life."  He  sleeps  upon 
it ;  and  when  morning  comes,  he  says,  "  What  was  it  that  I 
was  thinking  of  last  night  ?  Oh  !  I  recollect.  Well,  I  don't 
feel  very  much  like  it  this  morning.  I  guess  I  will  wait  until 
to-night."  And  that  is  about  the  last  struggle  that  he  has 
on  that  subject.  His  goodness  is  as  the  morning  cloud,  and 
as  the  early  dew. 

Another  man  is  very  well  satisfied  that  he  is  living  an 
erroneous  life.  His  associations  are  bad.  His  imagination 
is  becoming  contaminated.  His  very  health  is  being  under- 
mined. He  sees  in  himself  the  slackening  of  the  nerves  of 
industry.  His  boon  companions  and  convivial  friends  dodge 
him.  And  lie  says,  "  It  is  time  for  me  to  stop."  The  text  of 
the  sermon,  it  may  be,  that  he  just  heard  preached  was  "  The 
time  past  is  sufficient "  ;  and  it  has  opened  up  to  him  his  past 
record.  It  has  disclosed  to  him  what  his  life  has  been,  and 
what  the  dangers  are  into  which  he  is  running.  Listening  to 
the  sermon,  and  hearing  the  text,  "The  time  past  is  suffi- 
cient," reiterated  in  his  ears,  he  says,  "  That  sermon  is  aimed 
right  at  me,  and  I  will  stop ;  I  will  reform  f  and  he  goes 
home  with  a  firm  purpose  ;  and  his  purpose  abides  with  him 
until  he  meets  some  companion,  until  he  finds  himself  in 
some  congenial,  pleasant  company,  and  their  spirits  mix  to- 
gether, and  he  is  beguiled  ana  soothed  and  quieted  ;  and  be- 
fore twenty-four  hours  are  passed  he  says,  "Well,  I  did  mean 
to  give  up  my  past  life,  but  I  will  take  another  turn."  There 
was  the  will  that  was  strong  the  night  before ;  but,  how  to 
perform.  Oh  !  if  it  could  be  done  by  willing,  he  would  have 
done  it  that  night.  If  it  could  have  been  done  by  praying, 
he  would  have  done  it.  If  it  could  have  been  done  by  writing 
in  a  journal,  "  I  hereby  vow  and  purpose  to  quit  all  illicit  so- 


458  RESOLVING  AND  DOING. 

ciety,  and  lead  a  true  life,"  he  would  have  done  it.  If  these 
things  would  only  have  done  it,  it  would  have  been  done.  But 
to-day  it  required  that  he  should  meet  all  obstacles,  and  stem 
social  influences.  It  required  that  when  temptation  arose  he 
should  have  the  power  of  subduing  it.  It  required  that  when 
he  was  thrown  among  his  old  companions  he  should  be  strong 
enough  to  control  his  appetites.  It  seemed  to  him  when  he 
was  at  home  as  though  he  had  the  strength  to  hold  himself 
back  from  the  temptations  which  before  had  been  irresistible. 
He  had  the  desire,  he  had  the  will,  to  do  it ;  but  his  will  de- 
liquesced before  the  influences  to  which  he  had  so  long  yield- 
ed. Before  he  came  to  the  point  where  a  choice  was  to  be 
made,  where  a  purpose  was  formed  and  confirmed,  he  was 
gone. 

Now,  as  men  get  the  Divine  Spirit,  in  the  first  place,  to 
help  them  to  make  up  their  minds  to  do  right,  and  show  them 
what  is  right,  and  encourage  them  toward  the  right  way  ;  so 
they  need  the  Divine  Spirit  when  they  come  to  execute  their 
purpose,  and  transmute  purpose  into  action,  into  habit,  into 
life.  Blessed  be  God,  then,  for  the  encouragement  of  the 
declaration,  "Work  out  your  own  salvation,  for  it  is  God  that 
worketh  in  you,  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure." 
Well,  if  it  be  God  that  works  in  men  to  will  and  to  do  both, 
why  is  it  that  men  do  not  generally  will  ?  And  if  he  works 
in  them  to  do,  why  is  it  they  do  not  perform  ?  It  is  because, 
though  the  Divine  Spirit  works  upon  men,  it  must  needs 
work  upon  open  hearts,  and  have  access  to  them. 

I  go  out  to  the  meadows,  in  a  few  weeks,  and  say,  "Now, 
grass,  begin  to  grow!  Flowers,  begin  to  blossom!"  The  clouds 
are  passing  away,  and  the  sunshine  is  coming.  Spring  is  not 
far  off,  and  the  buds  are  creeping  up.  In  a  few  weeks  I  can 
go  out  and  say  to  the  dead-lying  meadows,  "  O  turf,  work  ! 
Send  forth  your  green  spires  and  your  bright  blossoms.  O 
boughs  work  !  and  lift  up  your  banners.  Hold  out  your  fra- 
grant cups  of  incense  ;  fling  them  to  the  sky.  Eejoice  that 
the  summer  is  coming.  Work,  work."  And  all  the  meadows 
hear  me  and  obey.  But  here  lie  pieces  of  plank,  and  there 
are  roots  under  them  which  do  not  come  forth  because  they 
are  covered  up.  All  the  air  is  full  of  warmth ;  but  whatever 


RESOLVING  AND  DOING.  459 

is  hid  from  the  shining  of  the  sun,  whether  purposely  or  acci- 
dentally, feels  but  remotely  its  influence ;  and  that  which 
would  otherwise  take  place  does  not  take  place. 

Now,  if  men  shut  up  their  reason  (and  they  do),  if  they 
turn  away  their  affections  (and  they  do),  if  they  are  not  hon- 
est with  themselves  and  with  their  God  (and  they  are  not), 
although  the  whole  heaven  is  full  of  summer,  their  hearts  will 
be  full  of  winter.  You  can  make  winter.  Let  him  who  wants 
it  take  an  east  and  west  running  fence,  and  on  the  north  side 
heap  snow,  and  the  sun  will  not  strike  over  there  during  the 
whole  year ;  only  an  atmospheric  warmth  will  be  felt  there ; 
and  there  shall  be  a  foot  deep  of  ice  there  while  on  the  other 
side  of  the  fence  you  are  gathering  fresh  vegetables  for  the 
table.  There  will  be  the  same  atmospheric  conditions  on 
both  sides,  only  the  sun,  striking  on  one  side  and  not  on  the 
other,  will  make  the  difference. 

It  is  the  same  with  men  who  are  contiguous  to  each 
other.  One  is  open  to  the  Divine  Spirit,  and  it  enters  into 
his  heart  and  resides  therer  Another  refuses  to  open  himself 
to  the  Divine  Spirit,  turns  away  from  the  strivings  of  the 
blessed  influence,  and  loses  it. 

It  lies  with  every  man  whether  the  divine  will  shall  fruc- 
tify his  will ;  whether  he  shall  be  influenced  by  the  spirit  of 
God  ;  whether  the  work  of  the  power  from  on  high  shall  be 
efficacious  with  him. 

No  man  was  ever  converted  by  accident.  No  man  was 
ever  converted  who  was  not  in  such  a  condition  that  the 
divine  influence  could  penetrate  his  heart  and  stimulate  him 
to  the  development  of  a  Christian  character.  No  man  can 
become  what  God  requires  of  every  one  of  us  without  the 
help  of  the  Spirit  which  is  freely  rendered  to  every  man,  and 
without  his  own  serious  and  most  earnest  labor. 

You  are  born  low  enough,  animal  enough,  worldly  enough  ; 
you  are  born  of  the  flesh  ;  you  are  born  in  those  conditions 
in  order  that  you  may  work  up  out  of  them  into  that  nobler 
manhood  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  and  it  demands  the  whole 
force  of  your  nature,  as  it  is  worthy  of  the  whole  force  of 
your  nature.  You  are  not  living  for  an  hour ;  you  are  living 
for  eternity.  Your  destiny  turns  on  character  ;  and  the  for- 


460  RESOLVING  AND  DOING. 

mation  of  that  character,  the  upbuilding  of  it,  is  one  of  the 
most  glorious  ambitions  that  you  can  essay.  It  requires  the 
divine  power  and  the  human  power  in  co-operation.  The  di- 
vine power  is  ever  present ;  and  it  is  for  you  to  determine 
whether  that  divine  power,  persuading  and  striving,  shall 
prevail  with  you  and  draw  you  in  the  direction  of  things 
right.  If  you  are  willing,  in  the  day  of  God's  power,  you 
will  rise  by  the  divine  help,  step  by  step,  until  you  stand  in 
Zion  and  before  God. 

Now,  if  there  be  those  here  who  have  thought  often  and 
often  that  they  would  attempt  to  be  Christians,  perhaps  yon 
have  said  to  yourself,  "  If  I  can,  by  a  few  weeks  set  apart, 
get  a  head  of  feeling,  an  impulse,  that  shall  shoot  me  into 
the  experience  of  a  Christian,  why  then  the  thing  will  work 
itself  out.  Once  converted,  always  converted.  No  falling 
from  grace.  If  in  some  revival  I  could  only,  by  the  warmth 
and  enthusiasm  of  the  people  about  me,  be  brought  to  the 
welding  point,  I  am  sure  I  could  hold  fast." 

My  friends,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  lik  a  grain  of  mus- 
tard-seed, the  smallest  of  all  seeds  when  it  is  sown ;  and  it 
sprouts  and  throws  down  its  roots,  and  throws  up  its  branches, 
and  grows  imperceptibly,  little  by  little,  little  by  little.  It  is 
like  the  leaven  which  a  woman  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal, 
which  was  as  good  as  gone,  so  far  as  you  could  see,  but  which 
leavened  the  whole  lump.  The  kingdom  of  God  in  the  hearts 
of  men  begins  very  small,  and  works  onward  and  always  to 
the  very  end.  Do  not  wait  for  a  revival  or  any  other  extra- 
ordinary influence  to  give  you  a  start  and  an  impetus.  The 
Christian  way  is  the  true  way,  the  Christian  character  is  the 
manly  character,  the  Christian  life  is  the  better  life  in  every 
respect ;  and  do  not  wait  for  dramatic  convictions.  Do  not 
wait  for  lightning-like  emotions.  Do  not  wait  for  anything. 
God  is  on  your  side.  Your  knowledge  is  abundantly  suf- 
ficient. Kesolve,  to-night,  "  By  the  grace  of  God  I  will  en- 
deavor, from  this  time  forth,  to  overrule  my  passions  and 
appetites  and  dispositions  that  are  not  consonant  with  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  will  enroll  myself  as  a  scholar ;  and  to 
learn  the  divine  will  shall  be  the  purpose  of  my  life."  You 
will  often  fail ;  you  will  frequently  miss,  as  the  child  does 


RESOLVING  AND  DOING.  ±Q\ 

that  is  learning  to  spell ;  you  will  be  like  a  child  that  is  learn- 
ing to  write,  and  that  scrawls  before  he  writes  well ;  or  that 
is  learning  to  read,  and  stumbles  over  the  words  before  he 
reads  fluently ;  or  that  is  learning  arithmetic,  and  makes 
many  mistakes  before  he  can  work  the  examples  correctly. 
Let  every  man  who  undertakes  to  love  God  and  do  his  will 
expect  to  meet  with  obstacles ;  but  let  him  put  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  and  pei severe,  and  he  will  triumph  in  the  end. 
Take  his  dispositions  and  begin  to  practice  them  ;  and  if  you 
fail  do  not  be  discouraged.  Go  on,  looking  to  God  in  prayer 
for  light  and  strength,  and  I  will  guarantee  what  the  result 
will  be. 

If  the  soul  that  is  beginning  to  live  under  the  influence 
of  the  higher  impulses  knows  itself,  and  realizes  its  affinities 
and  the  dignities  that  belong  to  it,  and  is  drawn  steadily 
upward,  it  shall  advance  from  strength  to  strength  until  it 
stands  in  Zion  and  before  God.  I  pray  you,  do  not  squander 
again,  to-night,  any  thoughts  or  purposes  that  may  have 
arisen  in  your  mind  while  I  have  been  speaking.  Sanctify 
the  time  and  the  hour.  Rise  up  and  go  away  from  here  with 
a  sense  of  your  duty.  Go  with  an  earnest  purpose  formed 
for  your  life,  and  with  a  sense  that  you  must  connect  this  life 
with  the  other  in.  order  to  fulfill  your  destiny.  Men  that 
know  how  low  and  ill-bred  they  are  spiritually,  and  who 
know  that  without  love  to  God  they  cannot  rise  to  their 
higher  manhood,  seize  the  opportunity. 

God  is  shining,  and  the  divine  Spirit  is  striving,  and  the 
"Word  is  witnessing,  and  those  who  have  gone  forth  call  to 
you  from  the  battlements  of  heaven,  saying,  "Come,  come, 
come  ! "  Go  ye,  begin  to  live  that  glorious  spiritual  life 
which  shall  never  terminate  till  the  throne  of  God  itself 
crumbles. 


462  RESOLV1NU  AND  DOING. 


PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

WE  rejoice,  Almighty  God,  in  thy  supremacy.  We  rejoice  that 
thy  power  is  exerted  every  where.  We  behold  it.  Though  we  cannot 
perceive  all  thy  truth,  yet  much  comes  to  us,  and  more  is  hidden  be- 
cause we  are  so  imperfect,  and  do  not  know  how  to  discern  things 
spiritual.  V'j  rejoice  that  thou  art  Sovereign,  and  that  thy  will 
is  supreme.  None  can  counsel  thee.  Thou  givest  wisdom  to  all  that 
are  created ;  they  borrow  from  thee;  and  if  they  return  and  come  to 
thee  with  words  of  wisdom,  they  but  bring  back  light  which  is 
reflected  on  them.  We  rejoice  that,  being  the  wisest  and  the  strong- 
est, thou  art  also  the  best ;  and  that  that  which  we  call  good  in  thee 
is  yet  botter,  and  that  we  may  understand  thee  from  the  best  things 
which  are  in  ourselves.  We  rejoice  in  the  truth.  Thou  art  nobly 
true  in  fidelity.  And  who  is  faithful  like  unto  thee?  In  all  upright- 
ness we  rejoice ;  and  we  rejoice  in  love ;  but  where  is  there  upright- 
ness and  where  is  there  love  comparable  to  thine?  We  rejoice  in 
patience,  and  in  self-sacrifice,  and  in  long-suffering;  and  yet  these 
are  in  us  but  a  faint  and  reflected  light,  while  in  thee  they  are  orbs 
glowing  with  original  lustre.  And  we  rejoice,  more  and  more,  as  we 
grow  in  stature  inwardly,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Spirit. 
More  and  more  glorious  dost  thou  open  up  to  our  thought  and  to  our 
feeling.  We  rejoice  in  that  which  we  see  and  in  that  which  we  feel, 
and  we  have  a  blessed  assurance  that  all  that  lies  beyond  will, 
by  and  by,  interpret  itself  to  us  so  as  to  be  better  than  we  think. 
Now,  we  pray  that  we  may  be  brought  near  to  thy  throne  by  an 
abundance  of  love ;  by  a  sense  of  duty  and  obedience ;  by  filial  fear. 
May  we  be  drawn  very  near  to  thee,  that  thy  heart  may  leaven  ours. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  keep  every  one  of  us  from  temptation  to 
sin.  Open  the  door  of  escape  to  all  that  are  tempted.  May  they  be 
able  to  overcome  easily  besetting  sins,  and  all  small  sins  that  lead 
continually  to  greater  ones. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  be  near  to  all  those  who  are  seeking  to 
walk  in  the  way  of  righteousness,  and  scarcely  know  where  to  step. 
WUt  thou  make  the  path  plain  to  their  vision.  Wilt  thou  work  in 
them  so  that  they  may  feel  inclined  to  walk  in  the  Lord,  and  to  live 
blamelessly. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  help  all  those  who  are  tempted  by  their 
passions — by  pride,  by  selfishness,  and  by  avarice.  May  they  be  able 
to  know  their  own  estate,  to  perceive  the  force  that  works  upon 
them  and  in  them,  and  mightily  to  strive  against  whatsoever  is 
wrong,  to  overcome  it  in  the  strength  of  God,  and  to  stand  continu- 
ally under  every  conflict  victorious. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  grant  to  those  who  desire  to 
behold  thee,  the  vision  of  thy  goodness.  Upon  those  who  mourn  the 
want  of  faith,  breathe  thou  thy  Spirit.  To  those  who  desire  to  re- 
joice and  cannot,  give,  we  pray  thee,  the  spirit  of  cheer  and  of  song. 
We  pray  that  thou  wilt  comfort  any  whom  thou  hast  greatly 
tried.  May  they  be  able  to  acquiesce  in  the  Spirit  of  G  od.  May  their 
experiences  come  as  God's  messages  to  them.  May  they  humble 


RESOLVING  AND  DOING.  463 

themselves  before  God.  May  they  be  chastised  by  the  stroke  of  thy 
hand,  knowing  that  it  is  the  Father's  discipline,  who  chastises  not  for 
his  own  vengeance,  but  for  our  profit,  that  we  may  become  partakers 
of  his  holiness. 

Grant  thy  blessing  to  all  those  to  whose  minds  thou  art  carrying 
unsettling  truths.  Bless  all  those  who  preach  the  Gospel.  Bless 
those  who  are  working  for  the  reformation  of  morals.  Wilt  thou 
cover  this  land  as  by  a  flood  with  thy  divine  influences.  Bring,  we 
beseech  of  thee,  every  success  to  schools,  to  the  honor  and  glory  of 
thy  name.  Bless  colleges  and  seminaries.  Bless  all  efforts  for  diffus- 
ing true  knowledge  and  right  influences  among  those  who  are  in 
darkness.  May  those  who  are  despised  be  sought  out  and  made 
honorable. 

And  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  bless  those  who  do  wrong.  Inspire 
them  with  a  sense  of  their  wrong-doing.  Arouse  their  conscience. 
We  pray  that  they  may  be  led  from  their  evil  courses  to  do  the  things 
which  are  right  before  God  and  man.  Bless  all  this  laud,  and  all  the 
States  that  are  therein. 

May  thy  will  be  done  in  this  nation,  and  may  it  become  strong, 
not  for  violence,  not  for  selfishness,  not  for  aggression  or  self- 
aggrandizement,  but  that  it  may  be  a  light  to  weary  and  struggling 
nations,  and  that  it  may  give  courage  and  hope  to  those  who  are 
seeking  liberty.  And  may  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  arise  and  meet 
the  coming  of  their  God.  May  thy  voice  be  potential;  and  may 
we  everywhere  discern  the  glory  of  the  Lord  arising  and  shining, 
until  the  whole  earth  shall  be  filled  therewith. 

And  to  thy  name,  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  shall  be  praises  ever- 
lasting. Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

OUR  Father,  wilt  thou  bless  the  word  of  exhortation.  May  it  not 
be  in  vain.  May  the  truth  search  out  all  the  motives  and  emotions 
of  the  heart.  We  pray  that  many  may  be  made  willing  in  the  day  of 
thy  power,  and  be  encouraged  to  go  on.  And  may  thy  name  be 
glorified  in  this  assembly.  Bless  all  who  preach  the  Gospel.  Bless 
all  the  churches.  May  they  be  filled  with  the  divine  presence.  May 
they  work  for  things  high  and  pure.  And  grant,  we  pray  thee,  that 
at  last,  as  one  by  one  we  go  forth  from  the  church  militant,  we  may 
enter  the  heavenly  church  triumphant,  to  rejoice  there  over  those 
victories  which  thou  hast  ministered  unto  us. 

And  to  thy  name,  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  shall  be  praises  for 
evermore.  Amen. 


"  And  they  sing  the  song  of  Moses,  the  servant  of  God,  and  tbo 
song  of  the  Lamb,  saying,  Great  and  marvellous  are  thy  works,  Lord 
God  Almighty;  just  and  true  are  thy  ways,  thou  King  of  saints. 
Who  shall  not  fear  thee,  O  Lord,  and  glorify  thy  name?  for  thou  only 
art  holy :  for  all  nations  shall  come  and  worship  before  thee;  for  thy 
judgments  are  made  manifest."— REV.  xv.  3,  4. 


If  it  were  possible  in  one  way  more  than  in  another  to 
destroy  the  glory  of  this  most  wonderful  Book,  it  would  be 
by  treating  it  after  the  manner  of  science,  or  after  the  man- 
ner of  philosophy.  If  it  be  treated  as  if  it  were  an  unfold- 
ing either  of  the  past  or  of  the  future  by  a  succession  of 
ideas  philosophically  expressed,  or  according  to  any  rules 
which  belong  to  didactic  teaching  or  statement,  it  will  be 
utterly  destroyed  and  ruined.  For  the  Book  is  unique  in 
this  :  that  it  is  a  drama  which  contains  in  it  the  moral  of 
dramas.  It  is  a  Work  addressed  to  the  imagination  in  respect 
to  the  highest  aspirations  and  experiences,  and  in  respect 
to  the  whole  sphere  of  human  desire  and  knowledge.  It 
teaches  chiefly  by  symbols,  which  were  far  more  significant 
in  ancient  days  than  they  are  now  ;  and  things  were  made  to 
do  service  then  that  to-day  seem  strange  simply  because 
other  things  are  substituted,  and  they  are  unwonted.  Its 
sphere  is  cast  in  a  much  higher  atmosphere  than  we  are 
accustomed  to  think.  It  is  a  Book  which  overhangs  the 
whole  career  of  time.  Indeed,  it  is  at  the  point  where  time 
and  eternity  meet  that  this  .ublime  drama  takes  its  rise.  It 

SUNDAY  K  v  KX  i  xt;,  June  14,  1874.  LKMSUN  :  Kev.  v.  H  Y.M  xs  (Plymouth  Collec- 
tion) :  NOB.  1,251, 14530. 


468  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  GOODNESS. 

is  poetry;  and  yet  not  lyric,  and  certainly  not  cast  in  the 
mould  of  pleasure.  It  is  not  poetry  for  any  such  measured 
use  as  we  make  of  poetry  in  literature.  At  times  it  seems 
wild,  and  even  grotesque,  but  never  less  than  sublime.  It  is 
unworldly,  and  it  has  strange  spiritual  power ;  because  what- 
ever undertakes  to  successfully  teach  a  drama  or  a  grand  ora- 
torio must  needs  be  lifted  up  largely  above  the  thoughts  and 
comprehension  of  men. 

Now,  if  this,  which  in  its  single  self  has  been  the  fountain 
and  inspiration  of  the  grandest  works  of  men — of  such  works 
as  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  as  Klopstock's  great  German  work 
corresponding  to  it,  and  as  the  work  of  Pollock,  which  was 
much  read,  but  which  seems  now  to  have  largely  died  out  of 
the  general  mind — if  such  a  work  be  treated,  as  I  might  say, 
after  the  manner  of  men,  it  is  disfigured  and  utterly  ruined. 

What  should  we  think  of  one  who  should  go  into  the 
lobby  of  the  Vatican  to  see  the  frescoes  of  Raphael,  and  take 
with  him  scales  and  rules,  weighing  out  certain  parts  of  the 
pigment,  measuring  other  parts,  and  ciphering  upon  and 
estimating  these  pictures  by  weight  and  size,  as  if  they  were 
a  mere  merchantable  commodity  ?  Men  would  stand  with 
uplifted  hands  in  amazement  that  there  should  be  found 
fools  that  would  treat  pictures  in  this  way,  applying  to  them 
rules  that  they  are  infinitely  above,  and  that  have  no  relation 
to  them.  What  if  we  should  find  men  who  in  regard  to  music 
or  poetry  should  treat  it  after  the  same  commercial  scale — 
after  the  same  mathematical  rule  ?  And  yet,  so  men  have 
been  for  generations  attempting  to  interpret  this  sublime, 
vague,  but  most  glorious  and  useful  drama,  ciphering 
throughout  the  past  as  if  it  were  a  literal  prophecy,  and 
ciphering  into  the  future  as  though  it  were  a  prophecy 
unfulfilled ;  and  attempting,  by  arithmetic,  by  historical 
interpretations,  by  various  ingenious  parallelisms  or  infer- 
ences or  analogies,  to  obtain  didactic  meanings  from  it  to 
suit  their  own  schemes  of  thought. 

Suppose  a  youth  should  walk,  at  evening,  when  the  heav- 
ens were  all  balm,  and  the  sun,  just  gone  down,  was  throwing 
up  all  gorgeous  colors  into  the  west,  mounting  to  the  very 
apex  of  the  sky — suppose  a  youth,  walking  at  such  a  time 


THE  TRIUMPH  OF  GOODNESS.  469 

with  his  well-beloved,  they  being  full  of  sentiment,  full  of 
feeling,  in  the  midst  of  this  charming  scene,  somewhat  fore- 
casting their  own  life,  and  in  the  language  of  affection  look- 
ing down  through  the  days  that  were  to  come — suppose  that 
then  she  should  breathe  the  thought  of  her  fancy,  her  feeling 
and  her  love,  into  his  ear,  and  he  should  receive  it  in  silence, 
and  think  of  it  for  a  time,  and  at  last  say,  "  My  dear,  let  me 
reduce  what  you  have  been  saying  to  the  laws  of  the  mind  ; 
let  me  see  exactly  the  philosophy  of  those  statements."  How 
in  an  instant  the  touch  would  turn  the  whole  scene  to  empti- 
ness and  folly  !  How  incongruous,  how  impertinent,  it  would 
be  !  And  yet,  it  would  not  be  more  so  than  are  those  meth- 
ods by  which  men  have  attempted  to  solve,  and  to  satisfy 
themselves  about,  this  stupendous  and  unmanageable  Book. 
You  will  sooner  reduce  the  Northern  Lights  to  the  conditions 
of  a  material  proposition  than  you  will  reduce  this  Book  to 
any  method  of  thought  that  is  yet  known.  You  will  sooner 
make  the  sunset  conform  itself  to  any  theory  of  arrangement. 
It  is  a  drama,  indicating  the  close  of  the  long  struggle 
between  good  and  evil  which  has  been  and  is  a  thread  of 
human  history.  It  is  a  drama  which  does  not  pretend  to  be 
symmetrical,  and  which  does  not  attempt  to  have  unity. 
It  is  like  a  great  piece  of  music,  filled  with  strange  choruses 
and  songs.  It  is  full  of  swarming  conflicts  set  off  by  stu- 
pendous images.  In  the  construction  of  this  irregular, 
sublime,  transcendent  drama,  all  creation  is  made  a  tribute. 
It  includes  lions,  and  lambs,  and  eagles,  and  dragons,  and 
kings,  and  slaves.  The  good  and  the  bad  are  mingled  with 
thunderings  and  lightnings,  with  night  and  with  day.  Seas 
of  fire,  seas  of  glass,  pavements  of  gold,  cities,  gardens,  all 
manner  of  fantastic  things  and  all  manner  of  real  things,  are 
here  strangely  blended ;  and  who  can  unfold  them,  who  can 
take  them  apart,  and  give  them  that  analysis  which  belongs 
to  time,  to  history,  or  to  any  of  the  modish  thoughts  of  man- 
kind ? 

It  is  a  sublime  Book  that  hangs  in  the  future,  giving 
assurance  of  the  final  triumph  of  goodness,  of  truth,  of 
justice,  and  of  love  in  the  world ;  and  we  must  take  it  as  a 
magnificent  tableau,  and  not  as  a  regulated  philosophical 


470  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  GOODNESS. 

statement,  aud  still  less  as  a  history,  either  of  the  past  or  of 
the  future.  To  interpret  that  Book  is  to  feel  it;  and  he 
interprets  it  alone,  while  he  rejoices  in  it,  who  finds  his  im- 
agination swelling  to  moral  inspirations,  who  finds  himself 
lifted  up  into  an  heroic  mood,  who  believes  that  the  things 
——•~  which  now  seem  weak  have  in  them  everlasting  strength,  and 
that  the  things  which  seem  now  trodden  under  foot  are  as 
seeds  that,  being  trodden  under  foot,  are  to  spring  up  with 
new  vitality  and  strange  power.  It  is  a  Book  which  reaches 
the  understanding  but  little,  and  the  heart  much — and  that 
through  the  strong  colors  of  imagination. 

It  is  out  of  this  Book  that  we  have  a  multitude  of  scenes ; 
but  none  of  them,  perhaps,  is  more  remarkable  than  the  one 
which  I  have  selected  for  our  text.  For,  although  the  de- 
scription of  that  strange  scene,  which  we  read  in  the  open- 
ing of  our  service  to-night,  sung  by  ten  thousand  times  ten 
thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands,  has  some  elements 
which  are  lacking  in  this,  yet  there  is  in  this  passage,  if  less 
of  the  pictorial,  more  scope  and  more  inward  suggestion  for 
motive. 

"  And  they  sing  the  song  of  Moses,  the  servant  of  God,  and  the 
song  of  the  Lamb." 

Now,  Moses  is  not  to  be  regarded  here  exactly  as  a  historic 

|  personage ;  certainly  it  is  not  the  song  which  he  composed 

\  that  is  meant,  nor  the  song  that  was  composed  by  the  Lamb ; 

_^^but  here  is  the  theme — Moses  and  the  Lamb.     And  what 

was  Moses  in  this  heavenly  tableau,  to  the  thoughts  of  those 

addressed,  but  the  beginning  of  a  great  divine  dispensation 

of  mercy  and  of  education  ?    He,  far  back  in  the  wilderness, 

\       and  in  the  beginnings  and  sources  of  history,  organized  truth 

\    and  beauty  and  right,  and  set  agoing  those  great  services  by 

/which  the  soul  was  to  be  enriched  and  ennobled.     In  other 

words,  he  was  the  beginner.      The   song,  beginning  with 

Moses,  and  ending  with  the  Lamb,  connected  the  very  first 

dawn  of  divine  truth,  in  the  earliest  periods,  with  its  first 

flow,  and  all  its  mutations,  clear  down  to  the  time  of  Jesus 

Christ,  who  in  Jerusalem  was,  and  who  now  in  the  New 

Jerusalem  is,  typified  as  the  Lamb.      The  figure  to  us  is 

almost  dead,  but  to  the  Jew,  who  had  been  accustomed  to 


THE  TRIUMPH  OF  GOODNESS.  471 

associate  with  the  sacrificial  Lamb  whatever  was  sweet,  what- 
ever was  beautiful,  whatever  was  pure  and  unworldly  in 
perfection,  the  figure  meant  immensely  more  than  it  means 
to  us. 

Tin-  song  was  of  triumph.  It  was  the  shout,  the  jubilatic 
outcry  of  the  universe,  that  stood  around  about  the  ends  of 
things,  looking  back  to  the  beginning,  and  seeing  the  way 
of  God  down  through  the  whole  dispensation  of  time  in  the 
world,  now  fulfilled  and  brought  to  a  triumphant  close  in  the 
other  life.  All  that  there  was  in  the  different  heroes;  all 
that  there  was  in  the  different  dispensations ;  all  the  judg- 
ments ;  all  the  sufferings ;  all  the  reformations ;  all  the 
growths ;  all  the  developments ;  all  the  victories — whatever 
had  gone  to  make  up  the  moral  elements  in  human  history, 
in  the  household,  and  in  matters  touching  priestly  offices  and 
prophetic  qualities  in  those  who  witnessed  in  the  wilderness, 
in  prisons,  and  in  the  mountains,  the  apostolic  administra- 
tions, and  all  the  after  periods,  and  doubtless  all  that  which 
has  come  down  from  the  apostles'  day  to  ours — all  these 
things  constitute  the  theme  of  that  great  heavenly  outbreak- 
ing song. 

And  what  is  the  result  of  it  ?  It  is  simply  the  chanting 
of  the  old  bard  by  which  the  deeds  of  his  chief  are  narrated, 
as  we  narrate  the  achievements,  enterprises,  battles,  and  vic- 
tories of  a  hero. 

"  Great  and  marvellous  are  thy  works,  Lord  God  Almighty ;  just 
and  true  are  thy  ways,  thou  King  of  saints.  Who  shall  not  fear  thee, 
O  Lord,  and  glorify  thy  name  ?  for  thou  ouly  art  holy :  for  all  nations 
shall  come  and  worship  before  thee;  for  thy  judgments  are  made 
manifest." 

Here,  then,  is  the  divine  catastrophe — evil  gone  under ; 
imperfections  swelled  out  to  perfectness;  ungrowth  and 
crudeness  brought  up  to  ripeness  and  to  beauty ;  goodness 
triumphant  through  the  universal  realm.  All  nations  shall 
come  to  thee,  not  one  being  left  out. 

This  was  the  vision,  not  of  time,  but  of  the  upper  sphere  ; 
and  it  was  this :  the  absolute  triumph  of  the  divine  part  in 
man.  They  who  have  gone  before,  and  for  generations  yet 
those  that  shall  follow  us,  must  see  the  flesh  stronger  than 
the  spirit  in  the  great  mass  of  mankind.  The  saddest  sight, 


472  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  GOODNESS. 

I  think,  that  a  man  can  contemplate,  who  believes  in  the 
Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  maintenance  of  moral  govern- 
ment, is  the  way  in  which  the  race  have  lived  hitherto. 
Time,  looked  at  from  any  high  standpoint,  is  a  most  sad  and 
dreary  experience,  unless  we  have  some  outlet;  unless  we 
have  some  compensation  somewhere.  If  there  be  no  consola- 
tion ;  if  you  believe  in  none  ;  if  you  take  the  human  race 
ethnologically,  and  with  the  narrow  eye  of  science  simply, — 
the  eye  of  sense,  — I  know  not  anything  that  is  so  sad,  and 
that  so  tends  to  destroy  the  trust  of  man  in  man,  or  all  hope 
for  man.  The  might  and  power  of  past  ages  has  been 
physical,  passional,  sensuous,  devilish ;  and  although  here 
and  there  there  have  been  sprinklings  of  goodness,  although 
here  and  there  there  have  been  a  thousand  sweet  voices 
heard,  yet,  in  the  main,  the  chant  of  time  has  been  hoarse, 
harsh,  cacophonous.  In  the  main,  the  movement  of  the 
human  race  has  been  the  movement  of  vast  bodies  with  vast 
sufferings,  and  vast  wastefulness,  and  vast  uselessness. 

To-day  I  might  take  the  continent  of  Africa  and  turn  it 
bottom  side  up  into  the  gulf  of  destiny,  and  take  out  every 
living  thing  in  it,  and  the  world  would  not  know  that  it  had 
lost  a  thing.  To-day  I  might  take  more  than  half  the  globe, 
and  sweep  the  hand  of  destruction  across  it,  and  cut  off  the 
race  of  men,  and  the  world  would  lose  no  idea,  no  moral 
influence,  no  treasure  that  it  was  important  to  keep,  no  possi- 
bility in  this  life  of  anything  great. 

And  if  man  be  looked  at  as  a  creature  of  time,  and  as 
worth  only  that  which  he  is  able  to  contribute  to  political 
economy  and  to  the  welfare  of  the  globe,  he  is  the  poorest 
thing  on  the  earth. 

It  is  bad  to  look  too  literally  at  things,  and  to  trace  them 
literally.  It  is,  therefore,  that  we  find  in  this  the  re- 
oound  from  minute  and  statistical  and  philosophical  investi- 
gation. There  must  be  something  which  shall  help  us  out 
of  this ;  which  shall  lift  a  man's  soul  above  the  traditions  of 
historical  verity.  We  get  it  through  the  imagination  in  this 
light  that  streams  down  from  the  far  future.  And  that 
struggle  which  has  been  going  on,  although  there  have  been 
great  improvements  in  some  respects,  is  still  going  on. 


THE  TRIUMPH  OF  GOODNESS.  473 

is  it  hard  to  be  skeptical  to-day.  It  is  hard  not  to  be.  It  is 
not  hard  for  a  man  that  opens  his  eyes  to  see.  It  is  easy  for 
a  man  to  be  orthodox,  if  he  will  take  the  right  books,  and 
shut  himself  up,  and  hear  nothing  except  what  they  contain. 
It  is  easy  for  a  man  to  have  faith  in  Christian  thought  re- 
specting this  world  in  all  the  glories  of  the  millennial  concep- 
tions, if  in  seeking  facts  he  will  take  only  those  that  are 
convenient,  and  those  that  are  arranged  for  that  special  pur- 
pose. But  when  you  take  the  human  mind,  and  shut  out 
nothing,  and  look  at  all  the  conditions  of  men,  all  their  birth 
traits,  all  their  tendencies,  all  the  great  channels  in  which 
they  inevitably  flow ;  at  things  as  they  are,  as  they  usually 
have  been,  and  as  they  will  yet  for  generations  be ;  when  you 
look  out  with  a  true,  loving  eye,  and  an  unbiased  judgment, 
it  is  not  easy  not  to  be  doubting,  skeptical.  There  must  be 
some  door  open.  An  honest  man,  a  sympathetic  man,  a 
generous  man,  in  other  words,  a  child  of  the  gospel,  cries  out 
in  anguish  of  soul  at  the  state  of  things  which  he  finds  upon 
the  globe.  There  is  need  of  some  relief  somewhere,  or  one 
could  not  live  under  the  pressure  and  burden. 

If  a  man  can  shut  himself  up  in  a  system,  so  as  that  his 
sympathies  are  cut  off  from  his  kind ;  if  a  man  can  be  so 
trained  by  any  strange  transformation  of  nature  within  that 
he  shall  feel  himself  bound  to  sympathize  with  the  elect,  and 
live  or  rest  without  concern  or  care  for  all  else ;  if  a  man  can 
coldly  look  on  and  be  happy  when  he  knows,  or  thinks  he 
knows,  that  his  friends  are  to  be  condemned,  I  can  see  how 
he  may  be  relieved  from  pressure  of  doubt  and  skepticism 
and  unbelief.  But  I  cannot  conceive  how  a  man  who  under- 
takes, according  to  the  spirit  of  the  master,  to  say,  "The 
field  is  the  world,  and  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave 
his  son  to  die  for  it" — I  cannot  conceive  how  a  man  who 
holds  himself  responsible  in  his  reason  for  taking  an  account 
of  the  condition  of  the  whole  human  family  from  the  begin- 
ning through  the  bloody  ages  to  the  present  day,  with  all 
their  prospects  in  the  future — I  cannot  understand  how  such 
a  man  shall  not  be  troubled,  even  if  he  have  nothing  but  the 
mere  earth-side,  or  physical  sense,  to  judge  from. 
It  is  from  this  aspect  that  there  comes  to  me  inconceivable 


474  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  GOODNESS. 

relief  and  rejoicing  when  I  find  that  the  spiritual,  the  inef- 
fable, cannot  be  actually  represented,  cannot  be  stated  sys- 
tematically and  succinctly,  because  the  higher  states  of  being 
have  no  corresponding  expressions,  no  language,  by  which 
they  can  be  philosophically  set  forth. 

If  an  emotion  be  made  known  to  us  it  must  be  made 
known  by  some  symbol,  by  some  vision,  by  some  poetic  repre- 
sentation ;  and  therefore,  looking  down  through  the  ages 
and  hearing  the  thunder  of  groans,  and  the  clash  of  battles, 
and  seeing  rivers  of  blood  still  rolling  along  the  gulf-stream 
of  time,  seeing  the  world  bestormed,  and  seeing  lurid  torna- 
does sweeping  over  the  earth,  it  is  an  unspeakable  gladness 
to  see  at  the  end,  and  on  the  horizon,  the  bright  and  glowing 
colors  of  triumph ;  and  I  stop  to  gaze ;  and  that  administra- 
tion which  has  seemed  so  doubtful,  so  dark,  seems  lighter 
and  plainer.  They  who  stand  disengaged  from  the  igno- 
rance and  darkness  of  time  ;  they  who  are  lifted  up,  and  are 
at  a  point  of  vision  where  they  can  see  the  past,  the  present 
and  the  future — I  behold  them,  not  bearing  witness  to  us, 
but  in  their  own  unconciousness  breaking  out  into  ecstacies 
of  gladness  because  God  is  justified.  He  who  brought  into 
existence  this  globe,  with  all  its  miserable  populations,  in  the 
last  estate  shall  stand  and  be  glorified  in  the  thought  and 
feeling  of  those  who  behold  the  end  as  well  as  the  beginning. 
Yea,  he  shall  be  glorified,  not  as  the  oriental  monarch  is, 
who  is  praised  whatever  he  does,  but  upon  grounds  and 
reasons. 

"Thou  only  art  holy."  "  All  nations  shall  come  and 
worship  before  thee."  Why?  "For  thy  judgments  are 
made  manifest."  There  is  charity  ;  there  is  explanation  ; 
there  is  reconciliation ;  there  is  harmonization ;  and  in  the 
end  it  shall  appear,  when  we  see  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  this  tremendous,  and  as  yet  uninterpreted,  riddle  of 
life  and  time,  with  an  unclouded  eye,  and  with  a  vision  just 
and  true  and  perfect — then  it  shall  appear  that  God  is  lovely 
and  beautiful. 

This  vision  of  God  that  we  shall  then  have  will  present 
him  in  such  an  aspect  of  loveliness  and  beauty  that  we  shall 
no  longer,  as  we  do  now,  see  through  a  glass,  darkly ;  we 


THE  TRIUMPH   OF  GOODNESS.  475 

shall  no  longer  worship  God  as  we  do  here,  tentatively  and 
strugglingly ;  we  shall  stand  in  the  presence  of  God  as  men 
stand  in  the  light  of  the  sun.  When  the  sun  pours  itself 
down  upon  men  they  cannot  look  at  it,  from  its  fullness  and 
glory  of  light.  And  the  glory  of  God  is  a  glory  which  the 
disengaged  spirit  shall  appreciate.  It  is  a  glory  that  the  love 
of  every  ransomed  human  soul  shall  appreciate.  It  is  a  glory 
which,  made  ineffable,  shall  be  appreciated  by  all  that  is  pure 
and  true  and  noble  in  us.  It  is  a  glory  that  shall  shine  out 
so  transcendently  that  every  soul  shall  be  awakened  by  it  as 
flowers  are  by  the  sunlight.  And  those  to  whom  here,  look- 
ing upon  the  career  of  time,  it  seems  most  murky  and  muddy, 
shall  in  that  blessed  state  see  reason  of  congratulation  and 
rejoicing. 

Now,  I  do  not  ask  to  know  how  it  shall  be  :  I  only  ask  that 
it  shall  be.  I  am  satisfied  that  there  is  no  other  outcome  to 
human  life  than  that.  I  see  from  day  to  day  what  is  the 
difference  between  men — between  the  worst  and  the  best; 
and  I  go  back  to  Solomon,  and  must  needs  take  his  melan- 
choly philosophy.  After  all  the  strivings  which  men  go 
through,  when  you  consider  how  imperfect  life  is,  what  is  it 
worth  ?  It  does  not  seem  to  be  worth  much  here  ;  but  oh  ! 
it  is  the  beyond  that  gives  value  to  the  present.  It  is  not 
the  measure  we  have  here,  but  the  fulfillment  which  we 
expect  there,  that  makes  life  worth  having.  Who  would 
bear  the  frets,  the  annoyances,  the  burdens,  the  long-con- 
tinued sorrows,  the  accumulated  insults,  the  raspings,  the 
pressures  of  life  ;  who  would  carry  on  and  on  this  troubled 
dream  which  is  so  easy  to  be  ended  (for  life,  like  a  candle, 
you  can  blow  out  with  a  puff) ;  who  would  take  all  the  suffer- 
ings of  this  life,  if  there  was  nothing  but  this  ?  It  is  true  of 
many  a  man  in  the  conflict  of  life,  that  the  more  suffering  he 
has,  the  harder  it  is  to  bear,  the  more  it  has  power  over  him, 
the  more  he  shuts  himself  up  in  his  feelings.  But  when 
I  look  beyond  and  see  an  unexplainable  victory,  let  me 
know  that  it  is  certain  and  that  there  shall  be  a  period  when 
I  shall  stand  among  the  ransomed  throng,  and  see  on  every 
side  radiant  manifestations  of  harmonious  wisdom  in  per- 
fected form,  and  then  in  that  faith  and  in  that  hope  I  am 


476  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  GOODNESS. 

willing  to  live,  to  bear  and  to  suffer.     For  all  I  want  is  cer- 
tainty.    I  can  wait  for  the  consummation. 

When,  in  1863,  I  was  a  pilgrim  in  Paris,  my  country  lay 
upon  my  soul,  and  almost  took  joy  from  my  eyes  and 
my  heart  in  the  scenes  that  I  beheld,  and  in  the  company 
that  I  met.  The  depth  and  blackness  of  her  struggle 
lay  heavily  upon  me.  And  it  was  on  one  radiant  Sunday, 
not  unlike  this,  that  as  I  wended  my  way  from  the  Grand 
Hotel  to  the  church  the  tidings  came  of  the  surrender  of 
Vicksburg.  No  words  can  tell  the  buoyancy,  the  awful  sense 
of  gladness,  that  I  had.  I  went  into  the  house  of  God,  and 
I  sat  down  in  the  pew  of  our  minister,  Mr.  Dayton.  By  my 
side  sat  his  daughter,  about  eighteen  or  twenty  years  of  age. 
In  a  pause  of  the  service  (and  I  thought  it  was  not  unmeet 
to  be  mingled  with  the  religious  service),  I  said  to  her, 
"  Vicksburg  has  surrendered."  She  answered  me  not  a  word ; 
but,  turning  to  her  companion,  another  young  lady,  she 
whispered  it  to  her ;  and  both  sat  still  as  statues.  The  hymn 
was  given  out,  the  music  -sounded,  and  she  began  to  sing ; 
but  no  sooner  had  she  opened  her  lips  to  sing  than,  in  a  flood 
of  tears,  she  buried  her  head  in  her  hands,  and  wept  for 
gladness  and  triumph.  She  was  far  from  her  native  land ; 
the  ocean  was  between  her  and  her  home  ;  she  was  yet  to 
abide  in  a  foreign  country  for  many  months  ;  but  to  receive 
that  news  was  enough.  It  overwhelmed  her.  It  overwhelmed 
me  also.  And  before  the  sun  went  down,  yea,  before  the  sun 
was  at  the  noon,  the  other  tidings  came  of  the  defeat  of  Get- 
tysburg ;  and  then  my  cup  ran  over.  No  man  can  tell  how 
victoriously  I  walked.  At  the  Grand  Hotel,  where  I  staid, 
was  a  large  collection  of  men  10  whom  my  name  was  not  sa- 
vory, and  who  had  been  accustomed  to  gather  themselves  in 
the  great  court  when  I  came  down,  and  by  every  mute  de- 
monstration to  show  contempt  for  me,  and  to  send  many 
contemptible  messages  by  the  servants  to  rne  (which  I  never 
received,  although  I  heard  of  them  afterwards) ;  and  no 
sooner  (I  was  wicked  !) — no  sooner  had  I  learned  the  double 
glory  than  I  went  back  to  the  hotel  and  walked  out  into  that 
court  to  see  my  adversaries  ;  and  alas  !  they  were  not  there — 
not  one  of  them. 


S 


THE  TRIUMPH  OF  GOODNESS.  477 

It  was  when  I  was  tossing  upon  the  sea,  off  the  harbor  of 
Charleston,  that  we  were  spoken,  in  1865,  and  the  tidings 
were  communicated  to  us  from  another  ship,  "  Lee  has  sur- 
rendered;" and  the  wild  outcry,  the  strange  caprices  and 
exultations  of  that  moment,  they  never  will  forget  who  were 
present.  We  were  far  off  from  the  scene  of  war ;  we  saw  no 
signs  nor  tokens;  it  was  as  if  the  heaven  had  imparted  it 
to  us  ;  but  oh,  what  gladness,  what  ecstacy  there  was  in  that 
news  no  man  can  know  but  those  who  have  suffered  as  we  had 
suffered.  It  was  a  whole  life-time  that  we  lived  in  those  four 
years — yea,  a  hundred  life-times.  A  man  might  live  twenty 
centuries,  and  not  in  all  of  them  have  as  much  experience  as 
was  crowded  into  those  dark  four  years.  And  yet,  when  the 
tidings  of  victory  came,  all  the  past  was  as  nothing ;  and  ever 
since  the  thunder  of  cannon,  the  clash  of  swords  and  the 
groans  of  the  wounded  have  been  dying  out  and  receding 
further  and  further,  till  they  have  well  nigh  gone.  "Wounds 
that  could  not  well  be  healed  have  become  less  and  less  sen- 
sitive, and  our  whole  land  is  steadily  coming  together,  and 
being  knit  together,  in  spite  of  hindrances,  and  in  spite  of 
the  many  things  that  would  better  not  have  been  ;  and  before 
ten  years  have  rolled  around  the  great  flame  of  war  which  has 
passed  over  us  will  have  been  well  nigh  forgotten. 

So,  only  let  me  know  that  after  the  conflicts  of  every> 
kind  in  this  life — all  jarrings,  all  disputes,  all  superstitions, 
all  cruelties,  all  idolatries,  all  unfaiths  or  unbeliefs,  all  crimes, 
all  vices — only  let  me  know  that  after  these,  I  shall  stand  and 
look  back  upon  time,  and  shout,  "Thou  art  worthy,  Lord 
God  Almighty,  because  thy  judgments  are  just  and  true,  and 
all  nations  shall  be  gathered  under  thee,"  and  I  am  content. 
The  darkness  shall  be  but  as  a  troubled  night.  The  day 
comes,  and  where  is  the  night  ?  where  are  its  dreams  ? 

Now,  then,  we  have  part  and  lot  in  that  blessed  song. 
They  who  have  gone  before  us  are  singing  now.  My  mother's 
voice  has  not  been  still  for  these  years  and  years.  My  little 
children  have  not  been  songless.  They  whom  I  have  taught 
in  my  long  ministry,  and  who  have  gone  home  before  me, 
have  not  sat  waiting  dumb  and  empty.  Those  whom  you 
all  have  known,  thrice  ten  thousand,  ten  thousand  times  ten 


478  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  GOODNESS. 

thousand,  who  have  gone  up,  are  to-day  in  the  plentitude  of 
that  heavenly  vision  ;  and  we  who  are  lingering  and  waiting 
may  rise  through  the  ministration  of  the  imagination,  through 
these  gorgeous  symbols,  through  this  magnificent  drama 
which  foretokens  the  struggle  and  the  victory,  and  may  join 
in  singing  that  great  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb — the  song 
of  redemption — the  song  of  the  healing  of  the  nations — the 
song  of  the  destruction  of  evil  and  the  triumph  of  good ; 
and  through  long  suffering,  through  many  defeats,  through 
the  steady  growing  power  of  goodness  and  its  final  ascend- 
ency, all  darkness  shall  be  swept  from  the  universe,  and  there 
shall  not  be  a  pang,  nor  a  sorrow,  nor  a  wandering  soul ;  but 
God  shall  be  glorified,  and  shall  sit  supreme,  with  his  whole 
household  around  him,  blessing  and  blessed  forevermore. 

May  you  so  live  that  now,  beforehand,  the  joy,  the  cor- 
dial, the  blessed  strength  and  stimulus  of  this  anticipated 
victory,  may  comfort  you  on  your  way.  May  tears  be  staid, 
or  may  they  flow  for  medicine.  May  sorrows  be  healed,  or 
may  they  be  sanctified.  May  your  faith  and  patience  be  aug- 
mented. Look  up,  look  beyond  ;  and  whatever  other  things 
you  may  draw  out  of  this  Book,  of  pleasure  and  of  joy,  do 
not  forget  this  :  that  there  is  a  living  picture  hanging  over 
the  church  and  over  time,  proclaiming  this  grand  and  com- 
forting truth, — "  Goodness  shall  triumph,  evil  and  the  Devil 
shall  be  exterminated,  and  God  shall  seem  lovely  to  every 
living  thing." 


THE  TRIUMPH  OF  GOODNESS.  479 

PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

BEHOLD  us  yet  struggling  in  the  darkness  or  in  the  twilight,  our 
Father.  Thou  that  sittest  in  the  midst  of  joy  and  victory — hast  thou 
forgotten?  Thou  that  hast  known  tears,  and  sorrow,  and  death — 
hast  thou  forgotten?  Blessed  be  thy  name,  O  Lord  our  God,  that 
there  is  nothing  that  thou  dost  forget  except  our  sins.  All  our  wick- 
edness is  ever  present  with  thee.  All  our  desires  and  all  our  failures 
bring  thee  to  our  succor.  For  thou  art  a  present  Help  in  time  of  trou- 
ble; and  thou  seest  how  the  course  of  time  doth  sweep  us.  Helpless 
we  are  cast  down  upon  the  river  of  life,  unable  to  resist,  swept  by  it, 
whirled  in  eddies  hither  and  thither,  and  often  precipitated  down 
narrow  and  dark  ways :  but  we  are  never  lost  to  thy  sight :  we  are 
never  lost  to  thy  power  and  thy  government.  We  are  controlled  by 
thee  as  much  in  the  darkness  as  in  the  light.  Thou  art  He  that  walk- 
est  upon  the  sea,  and  in  the  night,  and  upon  the  shore,  and  in  the 
twilight.  Thou  art  in  the  city,  and  thou  art  in  the  wilderness. 
Thou  art  in  heaven,  and  thou  art  upon  the  earth.  Wherever  there  is 
need,  there  is  divine  supply. 

We  rejoice  in  thy  greatness.  We  cannot  understand  it.  We  are 
often  perplexed  in  attempting  to  measure  thee  by  the  analogies 
of  human  life.  We  strive  to  conceive  of  thee  by  the  patterning  of 
our  nature  upon  thine.  All  that  we  can  do  is  to  find  some  things  that 
we  discern  as  through  a  glass,  darkly ;  and  yet,  they  are  things  so  full 
of  glory,  and  so  surcharged  with  all  hope-inspiring  elements,  that 
we  rejoice  even  to  see  thee  through  a  glass  as  darkly.  But  the  vision 
waits.  There  are  those,  innumerable,  who  behold  thee  face  to  face. 
There  are  those  in  thy  presence  who  have  gone  forth  from  our  fami- 
lies. We  have  also  our  forerunners  from  this  brotherhood.  From 
every  one  of  our  households  have  parsed  out  those  who  have  gone 
before.  And  they  all  are  with  thee,  rejoicing.  We  are  left  behind  to 
fulfill  yet  something  of  duty— some  portion  of  the  destiny  that  has 
been  appointed  unto  us.  Thou  art  serving  these,  often  in  ways  that 
are  to  us  unknown ;  and  thou  wilt  yet  call  us  home ;  and  we  shall  rise 
into  the  land  of  victory,  and  of  joy,  and  of  honor  evermore. 

Now,  be  pleased  to  help  us,  that,  though  we  may  not  leave  our 
tasks,  and  lay  aside  our  burdens  here,  to  go  up  and  rejoice  there,  we 
we  may  rise  in  thought,  and  by  faith  take  some  refreshment. 

Visit  the  lost.  Find  those  that  have  gone  forth.  May  they  taste 
the  joys  that  leave  behind  no  sorrows,  realize  the  blessedness  of 
eternal  victory,  and  come  back  to  live  again  as  if  they  had  waked 
from  pleasant  dreams  of  the  night  that  linger  through  the  day,  and 
cheer  and  comfort  us. 

Take  away  our  sordidness.  May  we  not  have  a  feeling  of  servi- 
tude to  thee.  Fill  us  with  that  interpreting  filial  love  which  shall 
make  thee  transcendently  beautiful,  and  which  shall  draw  us  along 
the  ways  of  duty  by  that  which  is  sweet  and  noble,  and  not  by 
scourging  fear. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  grant  that  we  may  more  and  more 
abound,  in  the  Christian  life,  in  all  honor,  in  all  truth,  in  all  fidelity, 
in  courage,  in  hopefulness,  in  activity,  and  in  accomplishment  there- 


480  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  GOODNESS. 

by.  Grant  that  we  may  never  be  weary  in  well  doing ;  for  what  mat- 
ters it  what  befalls  us?  Why,  heaven  is  just  beyond,  and  we  cannot 
fall  without  falling  into  the  land  of  the  blessed.  Grant  that  through 
tears,  and  through  sorrows,  and  through  sighs,  we  may  still  rejoice 
in  losses,  in  burdens,  in  troubles  of  every  kind.  May  we  learn  how 
to  rejoice.  Teach  us  the  divinest  lesson  which  thy  servant  of  old  was 
taught,  that  we  may  rejoice  in  affliction,  and  make  up  in  ourselves 
that  which  was  lacking  in  the  suffering  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We 
pray  that  tbou  wilt  help  us  better  to  fulfill  our  duties  at  home,  and 
better  to  discharge  all  the  obligations  which  rest  upon  us  in  our 
relations  one  with  another  in  the  business  of  life.  May  we  be  better 
neighbors,  better  citizens,  better  men ;  and  may  the  spirit  of  God  in- 
spire us,  lifting  us  above  all  littleness,  meanness,  and  untruth,  and 
purifying  our  inward  vision  from  darkness,  and  our  hearts  from 
guile. 

Grant  that  we  may  walk  as  they  who  know  that  they  are  the  sons 
of  God.  We  beseech  of  thee,  grant  us  this  inward  blessing  which 
shall  itself  produce  all  outward  good,  or  sanctify  whatever  experi- 
ence may  come  to  us.  We  pray  that  thou  wilt  accept  our  thanks  for 
the  joy,  the  inspiration,  the  intercourse,  and  the  hope  of  this  day; 
and  grant  that  the  spirit  of  this  day  may  stream  forth  throughout  all 
the  week ;  and  may  it  be  the  door  of  the  week  through  which  heaven 
is  poured  upon  our  way.  And  so  be  pleased  to  grant  us  from  week  to 
week  this  vision,  this  day  of  rest  and  of  heaven,  that  all  our  days  in 
its  spirit  may  be  linked  together;  and  that  at  last  it  may  not  be  un- 
familiar to  us  when  we  rise  to  the  song,  the  sympathy,  the  occupa- 
tion, and  the  joy  of  those  who  are  redeemed. 

And  we  will  give  the  praise  of  our  salvation  to  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Spirit.  Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON". 

GRANT  unto  us,  our  Father,  great  joy  in  the  faith  which  we  derive 
through  our  imagination.  These  are  the  consummations  which  are 
needed  to  interpret  time  and  life.  These  are  the  compensation? 
which  we  desire,  and  without  which  we  faint  and  sink.  We  wil1 
believe  in  them.  Our  heart  and  our  flesh  cry  out  for  God  in  victory 
for  righteousness.  Be  pleased,  we  pray  thee,  to  make  us  content 
with  the  allotment  of  our  lives.  Light  or  shadow,  burden  or  rest, 
trouble  or  peace,  whatever  may  befall  us — may  we  be  content  with 
it.  Grant  that  we  may  feel  that  this  is  not  our  home.  May  we 
regard  heaven  as  our  home,  and  to  that  may  we  look,  and  in  that  by 
forethought  may  we  dwell ;  and  at  last  may  we  go  thither,  and  see 
thee  as  thou  art,  and  be  like  thee.  And  to  thy  name  shall  be  the 
praise,  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit.  Amen* 


FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 


"From  that  time  Jesus  began  to  preach,  and  to  say.  Repent;  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.  And  Jesus,  walking  by  the  sea  of 
Galilee,  saw  two  brethren,  Simon  called  Peter,  and  Andrew  his 
brother,  casting  a  net  into  the  sea :  for  they  were  fishers.  And  he 
saith  unto  them,  Follow  me,  and  I  will  make  you  fishers  of  men.  And 
they  straightway  left  their  nets,  and  followed  him.  And  going  on 
from  thence,  he  saw  other  two  brethren,  James  the  son  of  Zebedee, 
and  John  his  brother,  in  a  ship  with  Zebedee  their  father,  mending 
their  nets;  and  he  called  them.  And  they  immediately  left  the  ship 
and  their  father,  and  followed  him."— MATT,  iv.,  17-22. 


We  are  to  take  into  consideration  how  different  was  the 
teaching  of  Christ  to  the  men  of  his  own  nation  and  age, 
from  the  teaching  of  Christianity  to  the  men  and  nations  of 
our  times.  He  commanded  these  sturdy,  rude  fishermen  to 
follow  him.  The  command  was  very  simple.  The  thing  to 
be  done  was  not  complex,  and  there  was  no  difficulty  in  obey- 
ing it.  That  is,  they  understood  it :  it  lay  in  the  scope  of 
their  power  to  forsake  their  calling  and  follow  him.  But 
when  we,  in  the  name  of  the  Master,  preach  the  repentance 
which  he  preached,  and  command  men  to  follow  Christ,  they 
are  perplexed.  For  they  see  no  one.  There  is  no  person 
presented  to  them.  As  to  following  him,  he  does  not  appear. 
And  it  has  to  be  explained  that  to  follow  Christ  cannot  be 
the  same  thing  in  our  day  that  it  was  in  his  own  ;  that  then 
it  meant  personal  adhesion,  actually  becoming  one  of  his  dis- 
ciples, or  one  of  his  school-band  at  any  rate ;  that  it  was 
accomplished  physically  in  his  own  day  and  presence,  but 
that  it  cannot  be  any  longer  so ;  and  that,  therefore,  we  must 

SITNDAT  EVENING,   April  9,  1874.    T.KSSON  :  Isa.  Iv.    HYMNS  (Plyiuoutb  Collec- 
tion): X.is.  HWl.slT.  Iu7 


484  FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 

give  to  it  a  transition  meaning,  or  the  equivalent  in  our 
time ;  and  that  to  follow  Christ  is  to  be  clothed  with  Chris- 
tian dispositions ;  and  that  to  be  clothed  with  Christian  dis- 
positions is,  on  the  other  hand,  to  be  free  from  all  malign 
dispositions;  that  the  presence  of  the  divine  grace  in  the 
human  soul  of  necessity  implies  the  subsidence  of  malign 
passions,  the  avoidance  of  all  evil,  and  the  clothing  of  one's 
self  with  the  character  which  belonged  to  Christ  and  to  his 
followers  in  their  day.  This,  stripped  of  all  figurative  ex- 
pression and  all  historical  illustration,  is  to  become  spiritual- 
minded — to  live  in  our  nobler  nature  under  the  inspiration 
of  God;  to  walk  in  knowledge,  in  truth,  in  purity,  in  all 
kindness  and  fidelity.  And  a  call  to  a  Christian  life  is  like 
a  summons  to  an  education,  or  to  reformation.  But  we 
come  upon  this  difficulty :  that  both  in  the  time  of  our 
Master  and  the  time  of  the  apostles,  the  command  was  to  a 
change  of  life  and  a  change  of  disposition  by  the  power  of 
a  man's  own  will.  The  same  style  of  personal  preaching 
is  still  maintained,  with  eminent  propriety ;  and  men  are 
urged  primarily  to  renounce  all  evil,  to  put  it  away  from 
them,  to  break  up  bad  habits,  and  shove  them  aside,  to  take 
on  right  habits,  and  to  follow  after  them  ;  to  be  clothed  with 
Christ,  to  love  God,  the  invisible,  and  men  that  are  visible, 
and  to  love  them  in  all  their  moods,  with  an  infinite  pa- 
tience. And  when  this  is  commanded,  it  is  not  that  men 
say,  " These  are  difficult  things  to  do."  "But,"  they  say, 
"  you  command  me  to  do  immediately  not  only  things  that  lie 
remote  from  me,  but  things  that  are  not  under  the  control  of 
my  will.  If  you  were  to  command  me,  for  instance,  to  rise 
up  and  go  into  any  given  assembly,  that  I  could  do  ;  that  is 
competent  to  my  will ;  but  to  command  me  to  hate  what  I 
love  is  another  thing.  The  will  cannot  make  me  hate.  It  is 
not  in  the  power  of  the  will  to  make  me  love  what  I  do  not 
love.  Why,  you  might  as  well  command  me  to  be  accom- 
plished ;  to  know  music ;  to  be  a  good  geographical  scholar, 
or  a  good  historical  scholar.  These  things  are  not  subject  to 
a  man's  own  will." 

There  is  a  certain  plausibleness,  not  only,  but  a  great 
deal  of  truth  in  this  declaration ;  there  is  one  part  of  a  man's 


FOLLOWING  CHPTZT.  485 

duty  in  going  from  a  worldly  into  a  truly  Christian  dis- 
position, that  is  subject  to  his  immediate  will ;  and  there  is 
another  part  that  is  not  subject  to  his  immediate  will.  Look 
for  a  moment  at  the  way  in  which  men  act  in  other  things. 
It  is  quite  possible  for  a  man  to  say,  "  I  will  step  into  this 
house,  if  you  please  ;"  it  being  a  snowy  day ;  and  he  steps  in, 
sheltering  himself,  it  may  be,  from  the  passing  blast :  but  if 
there  is  no  house,  he  cannot  say,  "I  will  build  me  a  house 
in  a  minute."  He  cannot  do  it.  If  he  do  build  a  house,  it 
will  require  time.  It  is  not  within  the  compass  of  his  will  to 
do  it  instantly.  But  when  a  man  builds  a  house,  cannot  his 
will  be  brought  to  bear  upon  it  ?  Oh,  yes ;  but  the  result 
cannot  be  attained  instantaneously.  It  must  come  through 
periods  of  time.  It  must  be  reached  through  many  instru- 
mentalities. However,  if  a  man  says,  "I  am  determined 
that  I  will  build  a  house,"  he  then  begins  to  act  according 
to  that  general  decision.  He  says  to  himself,  "  Where  are 
my  funds  ?  Where  is  my  plan  ?  Who  shall  be  rny  architect  ? 
Where  shall  it  be  placed  ?  Of  what  character  shall  it  be  ?" 
Having  determined  to  build  a  house,  with  all  these  remote 
contingencies  before  his  mind,  he  goes  to  work  and  builds  it; 
and  when  at  last  he  has  accomplished  the  achievement,  when 
the  house  is  built  thoroughly,  it  is  the  work  of  the  will ;  but 
it  is  not  the  work  of  one  will,  nor  is  it  a  work  accomplished 
by  any  instantaneousness  of  will. 

In  other  words,  we  are  quite  familiar  with  the  fact  that 
there  are  primary,  secondary  and  tertiary  actions  of  a  man's 
will.  Things  that  are  near  us,  we  can  do  or  refuse  to  do  by 
the  power  of  the  will ;  but  if  the  thing  is  complex  or  remote, 
the  will  acts  through  periods  of  time  in  reference  to  it.  The 
human  will  is  obliged  to  act  in  intermediate  ways. 

Thus,  a  man  cannot  will  another  man  to  trust  him 
instantly.  You  can  will  that  another  man  shall  trust  you, 
but  it  will  take  time  to  bring  it  about.  You  may  so  demean 
yourself  that  he  shall  say,  after  observation  of  you,  through 
days  and  weeks  and  years,  that  you  are  trustworthy ;  and 
when  that  has  taken  place,  you  may  say,  "I  determined  that 
he  should  trust  me."  You  cannot  go  to  a  person  and  say, 
"  Love  me,"  and  compel  him  to  love  you  on  the  spot ;  but 


486  FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 

you  can  will  that  ho  shall  love  you  ;  and  you  can  make  your- 
self lovely  and  lovable  ;  and  in  time  you  may  rejoice  and  K  ; 
that  that  which  you  purposed  in  that  man  has  come  to  pass. 
It  came  to  pass,  not  by  a  will-stroke,  but  by  the  taking  of 
various  steps  which  the  will  determined  upon.  Under  the 
influence  of  the  will  you  took  the  first  step,  and  then  the 
second,  and  then  the  third,  and  all  the  other  intermediate 
steps,  until  you  accomplished  the  final  result. 

That  which  is  true  in  regard  to  these  elements  is  true  in 
regard  to  the  whole  social  fabric  of  life.  We  are  acquainted 
with  that  fact.  One  says,  "I  will  not  dwell  in  ignorance  all 
my  life;  I  am  determined  to  have  an  education;  I  have 
made  up  my  mind  to  that."  These  are  words  that  are 
derived  from  the  will ;  a  determination  is  formed  ;  and  if  it 
is  followed  out  the  result  intended  will  be  achieved. 

If  he  is  living  with  gay  companions,  and  is  tired  of  it, 
he  says,  "If  I  am  going  to  have  an  education,  I  must  cut 
myself  free  from  these  distractions;"  and  he  does  so.  That 
is  one  step.  Then  he  says,  "  I  must  put  myself  where  I  can 
get  instruction ;"  and  he  looks  about  to  see  where  instruc- 
tion can  be  had,  and  puts  himself  at  school,  or  under  a 
teacher.  That  is  the  second  step.  Then  he  says,  "I  must 
now  apply  my  mind  to  the  thing  I  mean  to  learn  ;"  and  he 
applies  his  mind  to  it.  That  is  the  third  step.  Thus  the 
first  comprehensive  determination  breaks  itself  up  into  sub- 
sidiary determinations,  so  that  the  primary  will  becomes 
secondary,  the  secondary  becomes  tertiary,  and  the  tertiary 
quaternary.  There  are,  perhaps,  fifty  intermediate  steps  in 
the  process  of  acquiring  an  education. 

This  is  the  way  in  which  men  become  artists  or  engineers. 
Tins  is  the  way  in  which,  men  enter  into  the  professions  of 
life.  They  do  it  by  the  power  of  will,  but  not  by  its  instan- 
taneous action.  It  requires  time,  and  instrumentalities — 
successions  of  instrumentalities.  Not  that  it  does  not  require 
the  replenishing  of  the  will  again  and  again  and  again  ;  but 
it  is  nevertheless  the  action  of  Jbhe  will.  We  all  have  a  con- 
sciousness of  this.  Within  certain  bounds  I  can  have  just 
what  I  have  a  mind  to.  I  can  have  knowledge  if  I  want  it. 
Not  that  I  can  call  for  it,  and  have  it  come  at  once;  but, 


FOLLOWING  CHRIST.  437 

willing  to  have  it,  I  can  go  to  work  and  attain  it.  I  can 
have  skill  if  I  want  it.  Not  that  it  will  come  at  my  call ; 
but  by  taking  certain  necessary  steps  I  can  acquire  it.  So  I 
can  have  refinement.  Not  that  I  can  stand  and  say,  "Now 
I  am  going  to  be  refined,"  and  immediately  afterwards  say, 
"Now  I  am  refined."  Not  that  any  man  can  deal  with  these 
qualities,  in  their  nature,  by  any  other  than  the  usual  mode. 
Not  that  they  can  be  attained  except  through  a  gradual 
process  of  evolution  and  education.  No  man  can  change 
the  nature  of  things  instantaneously.  Yet,  in  all  our  experi- 
ence, and  everywhere,  we  see  how  indispensable  it  is  that  a 
man  shall  have  will-power;  and  that  will-power  distributes 
itself  gradually,  successively  and  continuously  through  long 
periods. 

Thus  the  social  fabrics  of  life  are  built  up.  Thus  intel- 
lectual development  takes  place.  Thus  the  fine  arts  are 
carried  on.  Thus  civilization  propagates  itself.  Thus  the 
fruits  of  the  various  industries  of  life  are  wrought  out. 
The  will-power  of  men,  taking  the  form  of  determination, 
acts  upon  natural  laws,  and  produces  its  influence  upon  the 
world. 

Now,  men  say  to  me,  "You  preach  that  I  am  to  become 
a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus ;  you  urge  me  to  choose  :  but 
I  cannot  choose.  These  are  things  that  cannot  be  chosen. 
You  command  my  aspiration.  You  enjoin  upon  me  love  of 
the  invisible,  joy  in  the  Lord,  faith  and  hope ;  but  I  cannot 
change  my  heart  by  merely  willing  to  change  it.  I  cannot 
endue  myself  with  gracious  affections  simply  by  willing 
to  have  them."  No,  you  cannot  directly ;  but  there  are 
some  things  that  you  can  do.  You  can  take  those  steps 
which  experience  has  taught  you  stand  connected  with  the 
accomplishment  of  these  commands. 

Look  at  it,  first,  negatively.  Our  Saviour,  and  his  dis- 
ciples after  him,  taught  (and  every  faithful  preacher  knows 
and  preaches  the  same  thing)  that  the  beginning  of  a  higher 
and  better  life  is  an  honest  and  earnest  determination  to 
break  away  from  its  opposites.  It  is  quite  in  vain  for  any 
man  who  is  given  over  to  drink  to  be  a  reformed  man  with- 
out beginning  with  this  determination:  "I  renounce  my 


488  FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 

cups."  The  mere  renunciation  of  drinking  habits  does  not 
make  a  man  sound  and- well;  the  damage  done  by  intemper- 
ance is  not  effaced  in  an  hour ;  the  various  pains  and 
weaknesses  of  body  and  obscurations  of  mind  are  not  removed 
instantly;  the  disastrous  effects  of  his  habits  upon  his 
business,  and  the  injury  done  to  his  social  connections,  are 
not  remedied  immediately ;  the  threads  that  are  snarled  or 
broken  are  not  straightened  or  repaired  instantly;  but  the 
first  step  towards  reformation  is  this:  "I  renounce  this 
deadly  enemy;  I  will  have  no  more  to  do  with  it." 

You  cannot  make  an  honest  man  out  of  a  thorough -go  ing 
thief  by  any  other  course  than  this, — bringing  him  to  the 
determination,  through  the  fear  of  God,  "I  will  never  steal 
again — that  is  my  determination  and  my  purpose;  I  never 
will  any  more  go  with  those  that  do,  and  that  will  tempt  me 
to  do  it."  That  resolution  does  not  make  an  honest  man  of 
him  ;  it  does  not  take  away  the  furtive  feeling ;  it  does  not 
take  away  the  infernal  inspiration  ;  neither  does  it  repair  the 
character ;  and  certainly  it  does  not  reinstate  him  in  the  con- 
fidence of  the  community ;  it  does  not  set  him  up  in  his 
business  again.  These  things  are  all  to  come  gradually ;  but 
this  is  the  first  step  toward  these  things. 

A  man  who  is  going  home  is  lost  in  the  wilderness ;  and 
while  his  home  is  east,  he  is  tending  to  the  west :  but  by  and 
by  he  has  some  token  which  satisfies  him  that  he  is  going  right 
away  from  home.  Now,  turning  round  does  not  take  him 
home ;  but  I  leave  it  to  you  if  he  has  not  got  to  turn  round 
before  he  gets  home. 

Men  are  going  in  wrong  courses  in  various  directions. 
The  first  step,  under  such  circumstances,  is  the  renunciation 
of  the  wrong.  If  it  be  in  the  nature  of  a  single  act  or 
tendency,  it  may  or  may  not  be  subject  to  the  immediate 
operation  of  the  will.  A  man  can  forswear  drink,  or  gam- 
bling, or  companionship.  Not  that  he  may  not  be  tempted 
to  it  again ;  but  he  can  bring  his  will  to  bear  on  the  instant. 
Then  come  the  successive  steps.  The  mere  renunciation  of 
wrong  is  not  to  embrace  the  right.  A  man  may  recede  from 
pernicious  or  malicious  courses,  and  yet  not  take  hold  on  theii 
opposites. 


FOLLOWING  CHRIST.  489 

Now,  in  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  the  first  command 
is,  "  Repent !"  To  repent  is  the  first  step.  But  what  is 
repentance  ?  It  is  turning  round.  It  is  going  away  from 
evil  and  toward  good.  That  first  step  lies  within  the  scope 
of  a  man's  will. 

Next  comes  the  positive  form.  When  one  is  conscious  of 
having  gone  wrong,  and  is  determined  to  go  right  and  be 
right,  and  enters  upon  a  clearer  knowledge  of  God,  he  has 
taken  a  positive  step.  And  then  comes  the  more  difficult 
question  of  the  will.  It  is  very  true  that  you  cannot  say, 
"I  will  to  be  humble."  It  is  true  that  you  cannot  say,  with 
any  effect,  in  yourself,  "  I  will  love  God."  All  that  you  can 
do  is  this :  knowing  what  are  the  causes  that  produce  love 
to  God — the  facts  of  the  Divine  Being,  the  facts  of  the  Divine 
nature,  the  facts  of  the  Divine  action,  as  they  have  been 
made  manifest  in  history  or  disclosed  in  the  world  around 
you — knowing  that  these  causes  will  produce  love  to  God, 
you  can  bring  them  before  your  mind.  It  is  in  your  power 
thus  to  create  love  toward  God. 

Let  one  put  in  my  hand  a  volume  containing  the  life  of  a 
most  heroic  man,  and  say  to  me,  "  Admire  that  hero,  whose 
life  is  given  here."  I  cannot  say  to  admiration,  "  Come  out 
and  admire  him."  I  can  take  a  candle,  and  if  one  says  to 
me,  "  Shine  on  that  thing  !"  I  can  obey  him  ;  but  I  cannot 
say  to  my  mind,  "  Admire  !"  and  have  it  obey  me.  It  will 
not  admire  simply  because  it  is  commanded  to.  What  can  I 
do  ?  Well,  if  you  want  me  to  admire  that  hero,  you  must 
let  me  read  the  volume.  I  take  up  the  life  of  William 
Wallace,  or  somebody  else  ;  and  I  read  the  facts  coming  out 
one  after  another ;  and  I  do  not  need  to  be  commanded  to 
admire.  I  say,  "That  was  a  fine  fellow."  I  go  on  reading 
again,  and  I  say,  "This  is  admirable."  And  as  I  read  on  I 
begin  to  glow  with  enthusiasm.  And  finally  I  lay  down  the 
book,  and  say,  "  That  was  well  worth  reading."  I  think  and 
muse  about  it,  and  urge  others  to  read  it. 

I  preach  to  you  admiration  of  God  in  his  providence,  or 
the  love  of  God  in  his  government ;  and  men  say,  "  I  cannot 
admire  these  things,  for  I  do  not  understand  them."  That 
is  true  ;  and  you  cannot  arbitrarily  will  to  admire  them  ;  but 


490  FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 

you  can  say,  "I  will  listen  to  those  who  tell  me  about 
them;  I  will  put  my  mind  in  such  conditions  that  I  can 
apprehend  them ;  I  will  bring  myself  into  such  a  state 
that  I  can  behold  the  glory  of  God  that  fills  the  heaven  and 
illumines  the  earth  ;"  and  so  you  can  indirectly  will  to  do  or 
to  be  that  which  you  are  commanded  to  do  or  to  be. 

Take  the  matter  of  humility.  There  are  a  great  many 
persons  who  pray  for  that  quality.  I  think  there  never  wa< 
anything  that  people  so  fail  to  live  up  to  as  their  own 
prayers.  We  hear  a  great  deal  about  the  prayer  of  faith ; 
but  how  many  persons  are  there  who  pray  in  faith  ?  There 
are  few  that  pray  at  all  who  do  not  pray  that  they  may  grow 
in  grace,  and  that  they  may  be  humble  ;  and  yet,  the  moment 
you  attempt  to  make  a  man  humble — that  is  to  say,  the 
moment  you  bring  him  under  circumstances  where  his  pride 
is  interfered  with — there  is  nothing  that  he  renounces  so 
indignantly  as  the  answer  to  his  prayer.  He  does  not  want 
to  be  humble.  He  thought  he  did  when  he  prayed ;  but 
when  he  sees  the  thing  face  to  face,  he  does  not  relish  it. 
No  man  can  will  humility  in  himself  ;  but  he  can  bring  him- 
self into  circumstances  where  he  will  discern  the  need  of  it ; 
and,  step  by  step,  he  may  create  in  himself  such  a  disposition 
that  he  shall  come  to  a  knowledge  of  it,  as  he  comes  to  any 
other  knowledge,  and  attain  it  as  he  attains  any  art  or 
accomplishment,  and  prove  it  as  he  proves  any  other  thing 
which  he  learns  in  life. 

In  short,  there  is  no  distinction  between  education  in 
moral  elements  and  education  in  intellectual  elements. 
There  is  no  distinction  between  the  mental  processes  by 
which  men  attain  to  religious  experience  and  the  mental  pro- 
cesses by  which  they  attain  to  social  experiences,  or  artistic 
experiences,  or  any  other  experiences.  There  is  not  one  mind 
for  religion  and  another  mind  for  secular  things ;  there  is  not 
one  law  for  spiritual  things  and  another  law  for  things 
worldly.  It  is  the  same  mind  under  the  same  law,  and  under 
the  same  moral  government ;  and  that  method  by  which  men 
know  how  to  repair  the  wastes  of  misconduct  ought  to  bring 
them  nearer  and  nearer  to  what  is  good,  until  they  have 
satisfied  themselves  of  that  which  is  understood  and  admitted 


FOLLOWING  CHRIST.  491 

on  all  hands  by  men  who  enjoy  the  benefits  of  civilization — 
namely,  that  religion  requires  men  to  turn  from  evil. 

So,  then,  when  we  command  men  to  repent  and  come  to 
God,  we  do  not  command  that  which  is  impossible,  though  it 
may  not  be  possible  for  it  to  be  done  in  a  moment,  or  in  an 
hour,  or  in  a  day,  or  in  a  week.  The  beginning  of  it,  how- 
ever, may  be  instantaneous.  Steps  which  stand  connected 
with  the  final  product  may  be  taken  at  once. 

I  cannot  go  to  my  cornfield  and  say,  "  0  corn,  rise  up  !" 
and  see  it  spring  forth  instantly ;  but  I  can  go  to  my  corn- 
field and  plant  corn  in  a  furrow,  and  say  nothing,  and  it  will 
come  up  in  its  own  time.  Though  my  will  cannot  evoke  it 
directly  ;  though  I  cannot  by  my  will-power  lift  it  up  as  I  do 
my  hand,  yet  it  is  certain  that  my  will  has  much  to  do  with 
producing  it.  I  can  determine  what  it  shall  be.  I  can  say 
whether  it  shall  be  small,  or  whether  it  shall  be  large.  I 
can  say  whether  it  shall  be  sweet  corn,  or  whether  it  shall  be 
field  corn.  And  yet,  I  have  to  wait  for  it  through  its  ap- 
pointed seasons. 

I  can  make  my  will  determine  my  condition,  my  relations, 
my  accomplishments,  and  my  happiness  or  unhappiness.  You 
urge  your  children  to  do  this.  The  teacher  urges  his  pupil 
to  do  it.  Every  master  employer  talks  of  it  to  his  apprentice. 
Every  man  who  is  bringing  up  young  men  in  business 
urges  it  upon  them.  And  when  I  urge  you  to  unite  your- 
self with  God  by  Christian  graces  and  excellences,  I  only 
repeat  the  same  thing  which  you  are  saying  to  men  in  other 
relations,  as  teachers  and  educators.  The  same  general  phil- 
osophy and  the  same  general  practice  prevail  throughout 
society  in  regard  to  the  change  of  life  from  indolence  to 
industry,  from  prodigality  to  frugality,  from  indifference  to 
carefulness.  You  are  all  the  time  attempting  to  tell  men 
how  to  build  themselves  out  of  animal  life  into  a  useful, 
industrious,  social,  refined,  civic,  patriotic,  frugal,  manly 
life ;  and  I  press  the  same  things,  according  to  the  same 
laws,  when  I  enlarge  the  sphere  and  apply  them  not  merely 
to  time  but  to  eternity  ;  not  merely  to  those  who  are 
around  about  us,  but  to  God,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men 
made  perfect ;  not  merely  to  the  things  that  perish  in  the 


492  FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 

using,  but  to  everlasting  things  that  God  has  reserved  in 
his  kingdom  for  those  who  love  him. 

So  no  impossibility  is  presented  to  men  when  they  are 
called  to  repentance  and  to  righteousness.  To  say  that 
men  cannot  repent,  to  say  that  they  cannot  return  to 
righteousness,  to  say  that  they  cannot  become  meek  and 
gentle  and  long-suffering,  clothed  with  hope  and  filled  with 
love,  is  to  say  that  men  are  unsusceptible  to  education. 
Education  will  not  come  of  itself ;  it  will  never  come  unless 
you  seek  it ;  it  will  not  come  unless  you  take  the  first  steps 
which  lead  to  it;  but,  taking  these  steps,  every  man  can 
acquire  it. 

It  is  exactly  to  this  point  that  I  bring  my  discourse  to- 
night. I  address  it  to  those  here  who  are  consciously  liv- 
ing in  courses  that  are  wrong ;  and  my  message  to  them  is, 
Repent!  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.  The  Divine 
Spirit,  that  evokes  desires  and  aspirations,  and  addresses  the 
conscience  and  the  reason,  inspires  me  to  speak  this  message 
to  you.  Turn  back  from  evil.  That  you  can  do,  if  you  will 
to  do  it.  If  the  evil  be  multiplied,  if  it  be  spread  through 
various  relations,  then  the  will  must  be  repetitious,  and 
meet  the  thing  to  be  done,  step  by  step,  and  continuously ; 
and  I  call  to  every  one  of  you,  whatever  may  be  the  wrong, — 
whether  it  be  wrong  flowing  from  pride,  or  wrong  flowing 
from  ambition,  or  wrong  flowing  from  vanity,  or  wrong  flow- 
ing from  the  appetites  and  passions ;  whatever  be  the  nature 
of  the  wrong,  whether  you  are  joined  with  others  or  whether 
you  are  solitary,  whether  you  be  long  practiced  or  new  in 
evil,  whether  it  be  secret  or  overt, — I  call  upon  every  man 
that  believes  himself  to  be  an  heir  of  immortality,  to  abandon 
the  wrong.  Bring  your  mind  to  the  consideration  of  it 
now.  Why  should  you  go  on  in  wrong  longer  ?  Why 
should  you  continue  to  educate  yourself  in  that  which  you 
yourself  disallow  with  your  best  nature,  and  which  you,  in 
your  clearest  hours  and  sunniest  moods,  believe  to  be 
unworthy  of  you  ?  Why  should  you  continue  it  ?  Since 
the  power  resides  in  you  to  change  it,  why  should  you  not 
bring  that  power  to  bear  upon  it  at  once,  and  say,  "  By 
the  help  of  God,  I  will  forsake  every  known  evil." 


FOLLOWING  CHRIST.  493 

In  one  bosom  such  a  purpose  as  that  will  lift  up  one 
specter ;  and  in  another,  another.  Many  of  you  will,  per- 
haps, be  appalled  when  you  consider  how  wide  has  been  the 
waste,  how  great  has  been  the  desolation  in  your  souls, 
how  they  lie  like  Tadmor  and  Palmyra  in  the  wilderness ; 
and  how  to  repair  this  waste  seems  almost  beyond  your  com- 
petence. Nevertheless,  it  can  be  repaired.  No  man  lives 
who  cannof  repent  and  reform.  There  is  no  evil  that  you 
cannot  resist  and  conquer  by  the  help  that  God  will  give  to 
every  right-minded,  right-willing  man. 

I  call  you  to  take  one  step  beyond  this.  The  forsak- 
ing of  evil  is  not  enough.  No  man  can  easily  forsake  evil 
except  by  taking  hold  on  good.  Industry  is  the  cure  of 
idleness.  "  Let  him  that  stole  steal  no  more,  but  rather 
let  him  labor,  working  with  his  hands  the  thing  which  is 
good,"  says  the  apostle.  Work  is  a  cure  for  dishonesty,  if 
a  man  works  at  right  things  hard  enough  and  long  enough. 
The  way  to  attack  any  evil  is  to  put  into  the  place  of  it 
its  opposite.  Let  the  liar  speak  the  truth.  It  may  be 
awkward  at  first,  he  may  have  to  try  it  a  good  many  times 
before  it  fits  his  tongue  ;  but  there  is  the  law,  and  the  prac- 
tice is  to  be  begun  and  continued  until  the  tongue  naturally 
speaks  the  truth. 

In  all  the  relations  which  you  sustain  to  one  another  there 
are  many  things  that  are  wrong,  and  many  duties  that  yon 
will  recognize  without  my  mentioning  them. 

Now  do  the  best  things,  as  the  way  to  abandon  evil,  and  as 
the  method  by  which  to  overcome  those  habits  that  are  so 
perilous  to  your  manhood  here  and  hereafter. 

Search  out  the  positive  virtue  that  stands  over  against 
every  known  evil ;  will  that  and  follow  after  that. 

More  than  this,  why  should  a  man  who  can  do  a  thing 
easily  do  it  by  the  hardest  ?  There  are  two  ways  in  which  a 
clock  may  be  made  to  keep  time.  One  is  to  go  to  the  hand 
and  pull  it  round  five  minutes,  and  then  in  five  minutes 
go  and  pull  it  round  again,  and  keep  moving  the  hand 
round  on  the  dial  five  minutes  at  a  time  until  the  twelve 
hours  are  passed — by  which  time  you  will  be  tired  of  the 
operation.  The  other  way  is  to  wind  the  clock  up.  There 


494  FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 

is  an  active  force  inside  of  it ;  and  if  you  wind  it  up  and 
start  it,  it  will  go  of  itself,  and  keep  going. 

Now,  can  a  man  be  helped  in  any  such  way  as  that  ? 
Must  a  man,  all  day  long,  say  to  himself,  "May  I  say 
that  ?  No,  I  must  not  say  that,  because  it  is  wrong.  I  am 
going  to  try  to  do  light,  and  that  would  not  be  right.  What 
am  I  thinking  ?  I  must  not  think  this.  It  is  wrong.  What 
did  I  feel  then  ?  I  must  not  feel  so.  What  is  my  motive  ? 
I  am  afraid  it  was  not  right."  The  dealing  of  a  man  in  that 
way  with  himself  would  be  like  the  turning  of  the  pointer  of 
a  clock  by  hand  instead  of  winding  it  up.  A  man  who  should 
act  in  that  way  would  make  a  fool  of  himself  in  a  year. 
He  would  break  up  all  continuity  of  thought  and  action,  and 
destroy  himself.  It  is  bad  for  a  man  to  be  thinking  about 
his  digestion.  Any  man  can  make  himself  sick  by  watching 
his  stomach  all  the  time.  A  man  can  impair  the  integrity 
and  efficiency  of  his  mental  faculties  by  continually  watching 
their  action.  And  is  there  any  way  in  which  this  can  be 
avoided?  Certainly  there  is.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  a 
supreme  affection,  which  takes  charge  of  the  mind  and  drives 
out  every  other  affection.  I  carry  in  my  mind  a  great  many 
dramas,  a  great  many  tragedies.  I  know  a  great  many  sor- 
rows, a  great  many  sufferings,  a  great  many  histories.  Some- 
times it  seems  to  me  as  though  I  walked  in  a  motley,  ghastly 
crowd,  there  are  so  many  things  that  I  know  professionally 
about  so  many  people ;  and  sometimes  they  are  pitiful  and 
painful.  I  recall  a  case,  many  years  ago,  in  which  one  had 
lived  a  life  of  pleasure  and  indulgence,  to  the  verge  of  vice. 
At  length  there  sprang  up  a  goodly  affection  in  her  bosom  ; 
and  that  which  had  been  impossible  before — the  avoidance  of 
temptation  and  of  connivance  with  evil — became  easy.  No 
sooner  had  there  come  a  worthy  object  of  love,  and  no  sooner 
had  her  soul  begun  to  love,  than  love  expelled  her  lower  feel- 
ings, rectified  her  life,  cleansed  her  heart  and  imagination, 
and  reestablished  her  in  purity  and  integrity,  to  which  she 
has  adhered  to  this  hour. 

I  know  the  history  of  a  person  (strange  as  it  may  appear, 
that  person  has  no  more  idea  that  I  know  it  than  that  the 
Emperor  of  China  knows  it;  it  is  my  secret  and  hers),  and 


FOLLOWING  CHRIST.  495 

it  is  a  marvelous  one  in  many  respects.  Not  only  is  it  mar- 
velous, but  it  is  illustrative.  For  here  was  a  nature  really 
great,  with  nobleness ;  but  it  was  almost  a  wreck,  and  it  was 
recovered,  not  by  a  minute  inspection  of  motives,  not  by 
working  out  this,  that,  or  the  other  individual  thing,  but  by 
enduing  herself  with  a  great  affection  that  had  such  power 
over  her  whole  soul  that  it  became  sovereign,  expelling  all 
evil  and  cleansing  the  heart. 

So,  then,  when  you  desire  to  overcome  easily-besetting 
sins,  let  it  not  be  by  a  minute  inspection  of  every  act  of  your 
life,  but  by  becoming  so  imbued  with  a  right  purpose  that 
your  whole  conduct  shall  be  shaped  and  directed  by  it.  What 
you  want  is  the  indwelling  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  the  love 
of  God  shed  abroad  in  your  heart;  and  this  should  be  the 
master  passion  of  your  being,  and  should  control  your  imag- 
ination, your  understanding,  all  your  lower  affections.  Let 
this  divinely-inspired  love  once  take  possession  of  you, 
and  it  will  expel  all  temptation,  and  cleanse  your  soul,  and 
lead  you  into  all  right  ways.  This  is  the  promise  given. 
This  is  the  office-work  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  While  men  are 
pressing  toward  evil,  they  should  be  aroused  by  having  the 
light  of  this  truth  thrown  upon  their  course,  to  inspire  them 
with  a  purpose  of  reformation,  and  turn  them  about ;  but 
that  which  they  need  more  than  all  else  is  the  Spirit  of  God 
by  which  they  shall  be  transformed  through  the  renewing  of 
their  hearts,  and  by  which  their  affection  shall  be  changed 
through  the  plenitude  and  efficiency  of  the  divine  power. 
Only  let  a  soul  be  caught  up  into  a  knowledge  of  the  beauty 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  feel  the  heart  of  God,  the  blood 
of  Christ,  as  it  were,  pulsing  in  him,  and  that  affection,  su- 
preme, regnant,  becomes  the  mainspring  of  conduct,  and  all 
the  wheels  move,  the  hands  keep  time,  ten  thousand  evils 
are  dissipated,  and  the  life  becomes  symmetrical  and  har- 
monious. 

There  is,  then,  at  every  step,  within  the  reach  of  your 
understanding,  within  the  reach  of  your  will,  the  initial 
experience — the  beginning  of  just  those  courses  the  ends  of 
which  are  salvation  to  the  soul.  I  preach  to  you  possibilities. 
I  set  before  you  your  own  dispositions  and  outward  lives. 


496  FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 

Look  at  them.  Do  they  need  "rectification  ?  Do  they  need 
exaltation  ?  Do  they  need  cleansing  ?  There  is  provision 
made  for  all  these  things. 

You  are,  it  is  said,  dependent  upon  God.  Blessed  be  God 
for  that  dependence  !  You  are  dependent  on  God  as  the 
scholar  is  dependent  on  his  teacher.  It  is  not  an  irksome 
dependence.  It  is  a  dependence  for  which  the  scholar  is 
grateful.  You  are  dependent  upon  God  as  the  sick  man 
is  upon  his  physician.  It  is  not  a  repulsive  dependence. 
You  are  dependent  upon  God  as  you  are  upon  the  lawyer  who 
interposes  in  your  behalf,  and  wields  his  knowledge  of  equity. 
It  is  not  a  disagreeable  dependence.  We  are  dependent 
upon  God  as  we  are  upon  the  seasons.  It  is  not  a  depend- 
ence that  we  would  fain  be  relieved  from.  It  is  a  glorious 
dependence.  No  sooner  do  we  invoke  God,  and  open  our- 
selves to  the  influx  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  than  it  brings  light, 
and  change  of  purpose,  and  finally  victory  and  joy. 

So,  then,  though  I  cannot  call  you  to  follow  Christ  as  the 
disciples  followed  him,  who  laid  aside  their  nets  and  forsook 
their  vocation,  I  can  call  you  to  a  Christian  life.  I  can  hold 
up  before  you  this  higher  conception  of  following  Christ  by 
the  inward  man.  I  can  urge  you  to  abandon  whatever  is  evil, 
and  follow  whatever  is  good.  I  can  call  you  to  do  these 
things,  not  by  your  own  strength,  which  will  fail  you  a  thou- 
sand times  in  life,  but  by  the  strength  of  God.  Not  only 
does  the  love  of  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  make 
provision  for  the  pardon  of  every  man,  but  it  delivers  every 
man  from  his  sins,  if  he  puts  his  trust  in  God.  I  commend 
you  to  this  faith  of  Christ ;  to  this  love  of  God  ;  to  the  begin- 
nings of  a  course  of  life  through  the  strength  and  light  and 
guidance  and  help  of  the  Divine  Spirit. 

Ye  that  are  so  powerful  in  your  households ;  ye  that  know 
the  ways  of  refinement  and  of  knowledge  ;  ye  that  can  com- 
mand the  elements  of  nature,  in  winter  and  in  summer ;  ye 
that  can  walk  the  sea  or  the  land ;  ye  that  are  the  architects 
of  your  own  fortunes ;  ye  that  know  how  to  stand  in  your 
civic  relations  patriotically,  and  do  the  things  which  good  cit- 
izens ought  to  do, — why  should  you  not  make  God  your  sov- 
ereign, and  the  eternal  world  your  commonwealth  ?  Why 


FOLLOWING  CHRIST.  497 

should  you  prove  recreant  to  those  duties  which  belong  to 
your  higher  manhood,  if  you  are  able  to  fulfill  those  that  be- 
long to  your  lower  manhood  ?  I  do  not  blame  you  for  your 
worldly  wisdom — that  is  good  ;  but  I  do  blame  you  if,  know- 
ing so  much  of  worldly  wisdom,  you  do  not  apply  it  to  your 
higher  manhood. 

May  God  give  you  the  light,  the  help  and  the  victory  ! 


PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

OUR  Father,  we  are  called  by  thy  voice  to  confession,  and  to  sup- 
plication, and  to  communion.  Not  because  we  are  good,  but  because 
we  need  the  divine  help  to  make  us  so;  not  because  we  are  wise  and 
companionable,  but  because  we  are  afar  off  and  without  grace,  and 
in  utter  need  of  all  that  shall  make  us  associates  worthy  of  thy  chil- 
dren, do  we  draw  near  to  thee.  For  thou  art  the  Fountain  of  all 
Goodness.  Thou  art  the  Source  of  Inspiration :  and  from  thy  nature 
comes  the  influence  by  which  we  rise  above  the  flesh,  and  seek  after 
things  spiritual  and  divine;  and  we  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt 
listen  to  us;  not  because  of  our  petition,  but  out  of  the  great  good- 
ness of  thy  soul.  Make  us  to  understand  more  perfectly  than  we 
have  understood,  how  great  is  the  goodness  of  the  Lord  towards  us. 
Thou  art  so  great  that  thou  wilt  not  suffer  iniquity  upon  us,  nor  let 
us  sink  and  go  the  way  of  the  beasts  of  the  field.  Thou  hast  destined 
us  to  immortality  and  to  glory,  and  thou  dost  chasten  us.  Thou  dost 
make  the  world  seem  often  to  us,  when  lured  by  it,  hard  and  dark, 
that  we  may  not  be  idolaters  therein.  Thou  art  calling  us  by  a  thou- 
sand things  to  thee;  and  we  pray  that  we  may  understand  the  econ- 
omy of  thy  providence,  and  what  is  the  meaning  of  the  things  that 
happen  ^ay  by  day.  May  we  understand  the  school  of  the  Lord  in 
which  we  are  disciples,  and  that  thou  art  our  Teacher  and  our  Guide; 
may  we  submit  ourselves  to  thy  righteous  will,  revealed  day  by  day 
in  thy  providence;  taking  sorrow  when  sorrow  is  sent,  and  disap- 
pointments when  they  come  from  thy  hand,  and  chastisement  when 
thou  dost  in  love  afflict  us.  Grant,  we  beseech  thee,  that  we  may 
not  forever  seek  pleasure,  and  only  desire  the  stimulus  of  joy.  May 
we  know  also  something  of  the  medicine  of  sorrow.  May  we  be 
made  strong  by  experience  in  adversity.  May  we  know  how  to  be 
patient,  and  to  endure  with  long-suffering. 

Grant,  we  pray  thee,  that  we  may  have  such  strength  in  thee — not 
in  our  own  wisdom  or  goodness,  but  in  the  mercy  and  the  strength 


498  FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 

and  the  inspiration  of  God— that  we  maybe  steadfast,  Immovable, 
always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord. 

We  thank  thee  for  so  many  kindnesses  as  thou  hast  graciously  sent 
upon  this  congregation ;  for  so  many  Christian  households  grouped 
together  here ;  that  so  many  souls  have  been  enlightened  and  inspired 
with  the  wisdom  that  is  from  on  high :  that  so  many  have  found  per- 
sonal access  to  the  Beloved ;  that  so  many  from  day  to  day  live  by 
faith  of  him  who  loved  them,  and  gave  himself  for  them. 

We  pray,  O  Lord,  our  God,  that  more  may  be  won  to  the  blessed- 
ness of  Christian  life ;  that  more  may  repent  of  whatever  is  evil,  and 
turn  away  heartily  from  it,  and  put  their  faith  and  trust  in  the  love  of 
God.  We  pray  that  we  may  hear  the  voice  of  many  inquiring  and  ask- 
ing to  be  guided  into  truth  by  thy  divine  Spirit.  We  thank  thee  that 
there  are  so  many  that  are  reformed,  who  walked  in  the  crooked  ways 
of  iniquity;  so  many  that  are  instructed,  who  aforetime  sat  in  dark- 
ness and  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death ;  that  so  many  are  free 
who  were  bond-slaves  to  Satan;  that  so  many  are  seeking  those 
pleasures  which  endure,  who  sought  from  day  to  day  evanescent 
pleasures. 

Accept  our  thanks,  we  pray  thee,  for  the  truth,  for  the  validity 
of  it,  and  for  the  power  of  God  every  day ;  and  more  and  more  make 
thyself  manifest.  Grant  that  thy  work  in  the  midst  of  this  people 
may  be  but  begun,  and  that  a  great  many  more  may  be  brought  into 
a  saving  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  be  with  those  who  teach  and  with  those 
who  are  taught.  Be  with  all  that  labor,  whether  in  word  or  in  acts 
of  kindness.  Spread  abroad  the  beneficent  influence  of  Jesus  as 
manifested  in  the  hearts  of  thy  people  here.  Spread  it  abroad  every- 
where, to  all  those  who  need,  to  all  those  to  whom  the  Gospel  is  not 
preached. 

And  we  pray  that  thou  wilt  shed  abroad  the  light  of  truth  upon 
this  great  nation.  Bring  it  more  perfectly  under  the  influence  of  truth 
and  justice.  Let  thy  kingdom  come  in  all  the  world.  Let  thy  delay 
be  cut  short,  that  seems  already  so  long.  Bring  in  Jew  and  Gentile. 
Grant  that  the  nations  of  the  earth  may  not  dash  against  each  other ; 
that  wars  may  be  unknown  and  pass  away  utterly ;  that  ignorance 
may  flee  away ;  that  knowledge  may  prevail ;  and  that  there  may  be 
that  liberty  in  which  shall  be  the  strength  of  a  true  manhood.  And 
we  pray  that  that  kingdom  may  come  in  which  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness, and  that  all  the  earth  may  see  thy  salvation. 

We  ask  it  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  to  whom,  with  the  FatheV  and  the 
Spirit,  shall  be  praises  evermore.  Amen. 


PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE. 


I  propose  to  make  some  comments  upon  the  passage  of 
Scripture  which  I  read  as  a  part  of  the  opening  service  — 
namely,  the  6th  chapter  of  the  gospel  according  to  Matthew, 
beginning  with  the  19th  verse  : 

"Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  earth,  where  moth 
and  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  break  through  and  steal  ; 
but  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures  in  heaven,  where  neither  moth 
nor  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  do  not  break  through  nor 
steal.  For  where  your  treasure  is,  there  will  your  heart  be  also." 

I  do  not  like  even  to  seem  to  contradict  the  face  of 
Scripture  ;  and  yet,  as  this  passage  has  been  largely  under- 
stood, and  is  to-day  understood,  nothing  could  be  more  at 
variance  with  the  teaching  of  the  Scripture  elsewhere,  and 
nothing  could  be  more  at  variance  with  the  history  and  out- 
flow of  Christian  morality  under  the  divine  economy  and 
providence.  If  we  are  to  interpret  the  Sermon  upon  the 
Mount  without  any  rudder,  without  any  central  virtue  which 
shall  throw  all  these  various  economic  commands  into  their 
relative  positions,  then  I  know  not  how  we  can  avoid  accept- 
ing statements  which  are  contradicted  by  every  step  of  the 
world's  history  since  the  day  of  their  utterance.  The  rudder 
of  this  passage  is  in  the  last  part  of  it,  as  it  is  in  a  ship  : 

"  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness,  and  till 
these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you." 

So,  then,  all  these  things  are  the  very  things  we  have 
been  told  not  to  seek.  Seek  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  you 
shall  have  those  things  which  you  need,  but  which  you  an- 
told  not  to  seek. 

Now,  it  is  very  certain  that  if  they  are  in  and  of  them- 
selves mischievous,  it  is  poor  economy  to  receive  the^a  iu  any 


SUNDAY  EVENING,  May  17,  1874.    LESSON:  Matt,  vl.,  19-34    .cfYKxa  (Plymouth 
Collection)  :  NUB.  1300,  901,  1,294. 


502  PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE. 

way.  I  understand  the  general  teaching  of  this  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  in  so  far  as  these  economic  truths  are  concerned, 
to  be  this  :  that  a  man  is  not  developed  by  the  external.  It 
is  not  bodily  strength,  nor  bodily  skill,  nor  accumulation  of 
the  ordinary  sources  of  enjoyment — those  that  feed  the  ear, 
and  the  eye,  and  the  palate,  and  the  different  senses — that  a 
man's  life  consists  of.  A  man's  life  is  within.  It  consists 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  that  is  developed  within  us — of  our 
nobler  manhood ;  and  in  that  nobler  manhood  we  are  to 
dwell ;  and  the  things  which  do  not  make  for  that,  but 
which  make  for  the  gratification  of  the  body,  and  for  the 
lower  and  outward  life,  do  not  belong  to  that  kingdom.  Any 
modes  of  seeking  right  things  which  shall  act  in  these  direc- 
tions are  reprobated,  and  are  to  be  set  aside. 

Now,  then,  if  your  end  in  life  is  to  be  rich  ;  if  that  is  the 
thing  which  you  aspire  to ;  if  that  is  the  ambition  which 
inspires  you,  Christ  says  to  you,  "Lay  not  up  for  yourselves 
treasures  upon  earth ;  do  not  seek  things  secular  or  things 
expedient  from  an  earthly  point  of  view.  They  are  transi- 
tory. They  are  not  sufficient  for  a  man's  needs  and  necessi- 
ties. He  breaks  down  under  any  such  search  as  this."  He 
does  not  say  to  a  man  that  absolutely  he  shall  not  lay  up 
anything.  He  does  not  say  to  a  man,  "  It  is  wro'ng  to  make 
money."  All  the  way  through  the  teachings  of  the  New 
Testament,  throughout  the  teachings  of  the  apostles,  there  is 
the  recognition  of  property ;  and  Christ  himself  recognizes 
it.  He  dined  with  rich  men,  and  accepted  their  hospitality 
and  their  alms ;  and  he  nowhere  rebuked  them  for  being 
rich.  But  wherever  a  man  is  rich  in  money,  sacrificing  for 
it  manhood,  or  neglecting  manhood  for  it,  his  riches  are 
such  as  are  reprobated,  and  justly,  too. 

"Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  earth,  where  moth 
and  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  break  through  and  steal; 
but  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures  in  heaven,  where  neither  moth 
nor  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  do  not  break  through  nor 
steal;  for  where  your  treasure  is,  there  will  your  heart  be  also." 

Now,  if  you  shall  say  from  this  passage  (as,  if  you  take  it 
literally,  you  must)  that  it  is  wrong  to  make  money,  then 
you  substantially  assert  the  other  proposition,  that  the  world 
would  get  along  without  any  commerce  j  but  we  have  speci- 


PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE.  503 

mens  among  the  savages  in  our  own  forests,  and  in  tropical 
climes,  where  men  cannot  work,  or  where  they  are  so  lazy 
that  they  do  not  want  to  work,  of  the  outcome  of  that  state 
in  which  men  are  not  inspired  by  enterprise ;  and  we  find 
that  those  nations  that  are  freest  to  receive  the  gospel  in  its 
largest  form,  and  to  live  under  its  dominion,  and  to  develop 
manhood  most  perfectly,  are  the  nations  that  have  had  the 
most  thrift,  the  most  industry,  the  most  foresight,  the  most 
of  those  things  which  seem  to  be  forbidden  in  this  passage. 

So  far  from  enterprise  and  commerce  militating  against 
morality,  I  aver  that  these  are  the  very  methods  by  which 
God  in  his  providence  educates  men — by  which  he  teaches 
them  foresight  and  sagacity.  Our  rising  early  and  toiling 
late,  and  being  careful  in  the  ordering  of  our  affairs,  and 
becoming  masters  by  the  control  of  material  things,  and  deny- 
ing self,  and  practicing  forbearance  in  the  present  for  the 
sake  of  benefits  in  the  future,  thus  living  one  day  for  the 
next,  and  one  year  for  the  next,  and  enlarging  our  horizon, 
and  developing  intelligence  and  thrift — through  these  instru- 
mentalities God  is  developing  morality  and  character  in  us. 
So  that  though  commerce  is  not  the  school  of  spirituality, 
yet  in  the  lower  forms  of  morality  it  has  been  employed  from 
the  beginning  in  the  providence  of  God  as  a  school  where 
men  have  been  developed  and  educated  in  certain  great  pri- 
mary virtues,  or  in  fundamental  honesty. 

Therefore  this  passage  does  not  mean  that  men  are  not  to 
lay  up  treasures.  It  sets  two  ideas  before  them.  Here  is  the 
manhood  which  comes  from  the  kingdom  of  God  in  you,  and 
which  consists  of  righteousness,  truth,  justice,  love,  purity — 
in  short,  the  royalty  of  manhood  such  as  Christ  inspires. 
That  is  one  end  of  life ;  and  making  money  is  the  other. 
These  are  set  up  before  you.  If  your  prime  end  of  life  is 
laying  up  treasure  you  are  base  indeed ;  and  Christ  says, 
"  Lay  not  up  as  the  chief  end  of  your  life  treasures  that  are 
fugacious,  and  that  will  supply  only  your  lower  wants ;  but 
lay  up  treasures  spiritual.  Seek  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
then  these  other  things  will  come,  and  will  come  harmonious- 
ly— will  come  without  mischief  in  the  coming  and  in  the  use. 

"The  light  of  the  body  is  the  eye;  if,  therefore,  thine  eye  be  sin- 


504  PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE. 

gle,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light.  But  if  thine  eye  be  evil, 
thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  darkness.  If,  therefore,  the  light  that 
is  in  thee  be  darkness,  how  great  is  that  darkness  I" 

There  seems  to  be  no  immediate  connection  of  this  pas- 
sage with  that  which  goes  before.  The  connection  is  gen- 
eral. We  are  to  remember  that  this  is  not  a  consecutive  ser- 
mon, and  we  are  not  to  look  for  a  logical  connection,  every 
part  with  every  part.  According  to  the  history  given  by  the 
evangelists,  our  Master,  after  a  day  of  wonderful  miracles, 
went  up  into  the  mountain,  and  spent  the  night,  there  with 
his  disciples.  In  the  morning,  descending  part  way,  he  met 
the  crowd,  and  seeing  a  great  multitude,  he  turned  back  and 
went  part  way  up  the  mountain,  and  sat  with  his  disciples  ; 
but  the  crowd  thronged  about  him  ;  and  he  began  to  preach 
and  to  teach  them  according  to  the  method  that  he  pursued, 
which  was  this :  when  he  announced  a  topic  he  was  ques- 
tioned by  the  people;  and  he  answered  their  questions.  There 
were  interpolations  among  his  remarks.  We  have  no  record 
of  the  interruptions  and  questions,  but  we  have  indications 
of  them.  We  know  that  this  was  the  method  not  only  of 
our  Saviour,  but  of  the  Rabbis  in  whose  school  he  received 
his  method  of  teaching.  The  questions  and  interpolations, 
which  gave  rise  to  many  expressions,  are  dropped  out.  So 
there  seem  to  be  disconnections.  There  were  disconnected 
passages  in  the  progress  of  the  discourse,  but  they  all  had  a 
general  connection  with  the  line  of  thought. 

Here  the  injunction  is,  Let  the  purpose  of  your  life  be 
simple  and  single.  The  great  end  and  aim  of  your  life  is  the 
development  of  the  divine  nature  in  yourselves.  As  when 
the  physical  eye  is  put  out  the  whole  body  is  dark,  so  when 
the  spiritual  vision  is  gone,  how  great  is  the  darkness  of  a 
man's  soul ! 

"No  man  can  serve  two  masters." 

Yes  he  can.  Many  a  man  does  it.  There  are  two  masters 
in  every  family. 

u  Either  he  will  hate  the  one,  and  love  the  other,  or  else  he  will 
hold  to  the  one  and  despise  the  other.  He  cannot  serve  God  and 
mammon." 

Ah  !  there  is  the  explanation.  Two  masters  that  shall 
represent  opposite  principles  no  man  can  serve.  If  one  rep- 


PRATER  AND  PROVIDENCE.  505 

resents  lies  and  the  other  truth,  you  cannot  serve  both  of 
them.  Of  two  masters,  if  one  represents  justice  and  the 
other  injustice,  if  one  represents  benevolence  and  the  other 
selfishness,  if  one  represents  the  carnal  and  the  other  the 
spiritual  side,  you  cannot  take  them  both.  You  can  choose 
between  one  and  the  other ;  but  if  you  take  truth  and  spir- 
ituality and  honor  and  justice,  you  must  give  up  their  oppo- 

sites. 

"  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mammon." 

You  can  serve  God  and  make  mammon  serve  him ;  you 
can  serve  God  and  use  riches  in  serving  him ;  but  you  cannot 
take  the  essential,  worldly,  selfish,  sordid,  avaricious  spirit 
that  is  called  mammon,  and  be  rooted  and  grounded  in  that, 
and  at  the  same  time  be  rooted  and  grounded  in  spirituality. 

"  Therefore,  I  say  unto  you,  take  no  thought  for  your  life,  what 
ye  shall  eat,  or  what  ye  shall  drink ;  nor  yet  for  your  body,  what  ye 
shall  put  ou.  Is  not  the  life  more  than  meat,  and  the  body  than  rai- 
ment?" 

If  you  take  this  at  its  face,  and  give  a  literal  interpreta- 
tion to  it,  it  will  traverse  and  oppose  the  whole  providence  of 
God  and  the  whole  experience  of  civilized  humanity.  Take 
no  thought  ?  Take  no  foresight  ?  Is,  then,  sagacity  bad  ?  Is 
forethought  mischievous  ?  Is  it  true  that  a  man  should  un- 
dertake to  live  heedlessly  in  respect  to  food  and  raiment  ?  Is 
there  such  an  economy  that  a  man  may  say,  "  I  believe  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  therefore  I  will  have  no  trade ;  I 
will  follow  no  industry  ;  I  will  not  go  to  the  market ;  I  will 
not  go  to  the  tailor  or  to  the  shoemaker ;  I  will  eat  nothing 
but  what  God's  providence  sends  to  me,  and  wear  nothing  ex- 
cept what  God's  providence  sends  to  me"  ?  What  sort  of  a 
world  would  we  have  if  men  undertook  to  carry  that  out 
literally  ? 

There  have  been  such  things  attempted  ;  and  if  they  do 
not  come  too  often  and  make  too  much  pretension,  as  speci- 
mens they  are  very  interesting.  There  are  institutions  that 
are  said  to  be  supported  by  faith. 

A  man  opens  an  asylum  for  consumptives.  He  has  no 
money,  but  he  prays.  He  says,  "  If  I  look  up  in  faith  to 
Christ,  he  will  supply  all  that  I  need."  By  and  by  he  pub- 
lishes an  annual  report ;  and  what  do  we  find  ?  The  man 


506  PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE. 

has  received  enough  money  to  pay  the  rent  of  large  build- 
ings. He  says,  "  I  let  it  be  known  generally  that  I  had  such 
an  institution,  and  patients  flocked  to  it."  In  bis  journal  he 
makes  this  statement:  "  On  such  a  morning  a  bill  of  three 
hundred  dollars  came  in  for  food  and  various  other  necessa- 
ries, and  I  had  no  money ;  but  my  soul  dwelt  in  perfect  peace. 
I  spread  my  wants  before  the  Lord,  and  rose  up  and  went 
forth  without  a  trouble ;  and  that  afternoon  I  received  by 
mail,  from  unknown  persons,  money — from  one  twenty  dol- 
lars, from  another  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  from 
another  four  hundred  dollars.  So  I  had  all  that  I  needed, 
and  I  paid  the  bill,  and  my  steward  was  in  amazement." 

Now,  let  us  test  this  a  single  moment,  because  it  has  all 
the  appearance  of  following  literally  the  face  of  Scripture. 
If  there  is  such  a  provision  as  this  we  ought  to  know  it.  I 
am  exceedingly  anxious  to  build  me  a  nice  house  on  my  farm, 
and  I  am  exercised  to  know  how  I  shall  do  it ;  and  if  I  can 
do  it  by  praying,  if  there  is  a  faith  by  which  I  can  go  on  and 
build,  and  have  money  that  I  have  not  earned  sent  me  from 
north  and  south  and  east  and  west,  and  I  can  be  assured  of 
it,  I  will  go  forward  and  build. 

A  man  wants  to  build  a  banking-house.  Is  it  safe  for  him 
to  retire  to  his  closet  and  pray,  and  then  go  on  building  with- 
out knowing  where  the  money  or  the  material  is  coming 
from  ?  And  if  you  can  build  one  house  in  that  way,  why  not 
a  whole  street  ?  And  if  houses  can  be  built  so,  why  not  ships? 
If  you  can  do  such  things  by  praying,  and  without  thinking 
or  doing  anything  yourself,  why  can  you  not  carry  on  the 
whole  work  of  civilization  in  that  way  ? 

I  do  not  undervalue  prayer  and  faith  ;  but  I  believe  that 
the  vast  achievements  which  we  witness  in  life  are  the  re- 
sults of  human  thought  and  will  and  intuition.  The  secret 
of  men's  success  in  life  lies  largely  in  themselves.  Certainly 
there  was  never  a  wiser  adaptation  of  means  to  an  end  than 
we  find  to  exist  in  regard  to  this  very  outward  influence. 

Suppose  I  should  go  into  the  street  and  limp  with  very 
great  suffering,  and,  instead  of  taking  a  staff  to  walk  with, 
should  pray  in  faith,  and  a  friend,  seeing  me,  should  run 
to  my  side,  and  say,  "  Let  me  help  you  I"  Under  such 


PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE.  507 

circumstances  I  might  think  that  my  prayer  of  faith  had. 
brought  me  succor ;  but  suppose  every  man  should  limp, 
then  what  ?  If  prayer  is  good  for  one,  why  not  for  all  ? 

I  say  that  where  there  are  results  there  are  causes. 
Take  the  case  of  an  asylum.  In  the  first  place  there  is 
an  appeal  to  universal  sympathy.  If  a  hospital  is  estab- 
lished, and  pains  are  taken  to  let  it  be  known  throughout 
all  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  that  it  has  no 
regular  support,  but  that  it  depends  upon  what  comes  to 
it  casually  by  way  of  voluntary  contributions,  that  fact  is  a 
cause  which  may  account  for  the  support  which  it  receives. 
I  think  one  institution  during  a  generation  in  a  nation  might 
be  supported  in  that  way.  But  was  there  ever  a  net  more 
deliberately  spread  to  catch  contributions  than  advertising 
that  they  are  expected  for  such  a  good  purpose  ?  It  is 
not  prayer  that  brings  in  the  money;  it  is  the  adaptation 
of  a  means  to  an  end.  It  is  the  use  of  causes  to  produce 
a  result.  It  is  a  wise  appeal  to  the  known  sympathy  of 
the  human  soul. 

I  believe  in  prayer,  and  in  the  prayer  of  faith ;  but  I 
do  not  believe  that  God  ever  would  make  a  tree  forty  feet 
high  in  an  instant  in  answer  to  any  amount  of  praying, 
I  believe  in  the  prayer  of  faith,  but  I  do  not  believe  that 
it  will  subsoil  my  farm,  nor  drain  the  wet  places  on  it.  I 
do  not  believe  the  prayer  of  faith  is  meant  to  be  a  substi- 
tute for  our  own  endeavors,  or  that  it  is  meant  to  be  a 
premium  on  laziness,  as  it  would  be  under  such  circum- 
stances. 

You  are  children  of  God.  In  fact,  this  passage  says 
you  are  to  develop  in  yourselves  the  godly  nature.  This 
is  the  great  end  of  your  life  ;  and  in  doing  this,  in  the 
full  exercise  of  your  power,  you  are  not  to  be  anxious.  Tak- 
ing thought  is  not  the  true  rendering  of  the  original  verb. 
The  correct  translation  is,  Take  no  distracting  thought; 
take  no  worrying  thought ;  do  not  be  anxious.  The  declara- 
tion is  this  (and  certainly  it  approves  itself  to  the  judgment 
of  every  one) :  you  are  under  the  divine  providence ;  you 
are  seeking,  as  the  great  end  of  your  life,  the  development 
in  yourselves  of  the  noblest  manhood — namely  the  pattern 


508  PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE. 

that  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  Now  then,  in  carrying  this  out 
do  not  fret  yourselves,  nor  worry  unduly  in  respect  to  ex- 
ternals, bodily  comforts,  food,  raiment  and  the  like.  It  is 
not  that  you  are  not  to  work  for  them,  and  think  of  them, 
appropriately,  and  that  you  are  not  to  put  such  emphasis 
on  them  that  fear  for  want  of  them  should  take  away  the 
comfort  of  your  life.  That  is  not  where  you  live. 

"  Behold  the  fowls  of  the  air ;  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they  reap, 
nor  gather  into  barns ;  and  yet  your  heavenly  Father  feedeth  them." 

There  is  an  illustration ;  and  how  strangely  people  employ 
it !  They  say,  "Yes,  God  feeds  the  birds  and  he'll  feed  us ;" 
but  did  you  ever  stop  to  think  how  he  feeds  them  ?  Did  you 
ever  stop  to  think  whether  he  does  not  make  them  feed  them- 
selves ?  Did  you  erer  see  a  robin  bring  up  a  brood  of 
young  robins  ?  Do  you  suppose  a  robin  gets  on  the  edge  of 
its  nest,  and  says,  "  0  God,  feed  my  little  ones."  No,  it 
sends  them  to  hunt  worms ;  and  out  they  go,  and  work  in 
the  turf  as  hard  as  any  creatures  of  their  size  should  work. 
When  the  sparrows  are  fed  by  God,  he  sets  them  hopping 
through  the  hedges  where  seeds  are,  and  along  ways  where 
insects  burrow  or  hide.  When  he  feeds  birds  he  feeds 
them  according  to  their  nature.  He  has  a  providence  which 
takes  care  of  them  in  accordance  with  the  nature  of  birds. 
Let  us  take  the  next  illustration  that  is  given  here  : 

"Which  of  you  by  taking  thought  can  add  one  cubit  unto  his 
stature?  and  why  take  you  thought  for  your  raiment?  " 

Which  of  you  by  worrying  can  add  anything  to  your 
stature  ?  Suppose  you  are  homely,  and  are  discontented, 
and  wish  you  were  handsome,  can  you  by  worrying  grow 
handsome  ?  Suppose  you  are  short,  and  are  at  a  disadvan- 
tage for  that  reason,  and  you  would  like  to  be  taller,  can  you 
by  worrying  make  yourself  taller  ?  Who  can  change  an 
immutable  law  ?  Who  can  change  the  absolute  facts  that 
exist  about  him  ? 

Then  comes  another  illustration  : 

"Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow;  they  toil  not, 
neither  do  they  spin." 

That  is  certain.  They  do  not  work  at  the  plow,  nor  at 
the  anvil,  nor  at  the  loom,  because  lilies  do  not  want  the 


PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE.  509 

products  of  any  of  these  things.  But  do  they  not  work  in 
their  own  sphere,  and  according  to  their  own  nature  ?  Is 
the  lily  dreamed  into  existence  ?  Is  not  there  a  bulb  ? 
Does  it  not  follow  the  laws  of  light  and  heat  ?  Does  it  not 
grow  by  increment  ?  Are  not  the  stem  and  blossom  the 
product  of  natural  laws  ?  Although  it  does  not  toil  as  we 
do,  yet,  according  to  its  own  nature,  it  toils.  As  there  is  a 
providence  that  takes  care  of  birds,  according  to  bird-nature, 
so  there  is  a  providence  that  takes  care  of  grass  and  flowers, 
according  to  their  nature.  It  takes  care  of  them,  not  in 
spite  of  natural  law,  nor  over  natural  law,  but  through 
natural  law. 

"  And  yet  I  say  unto  you,  that  even  Solomon,  in  all  his  glory,  Tras 
not  arrayed  like  one  of  these." 

"  Now,  the  point  comes  still,  that  although  the  bird  must 
earn  its  living,  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  bird  has  the 
habit  of  fretting  or  worrying  about  it.  Birds  go  to  bed  at 
night  utterly  unconcerned  about  the  future.  They  have  no 
plans  in  their  little  heads.  They  doze  peacefully  through 
the  night.  In  the  morning  they  are  up  at  twilight — before 
you  are.  (I  state  it  as  a  fact,  though  you  will  have  to  take  it 
by  faith,  as  you  will  never  realize  it.  They  sing  at  half-past 
three  o'clock ;  but  none  of  you  know  anything  about  that.) 
They  rise  without  any  fever  of  desire,  and  go  to  work  accord- 
ing to  their  own  nature,  and  in  the  use  of  instruments  which 
are  indispensable  to  them.  So  God  feeds  them,  and  they  are 
happy.  These  little  unburdened  folk,  if  you  do  not  look  too 
closely  into  their  habits,  seem  almost  like  ethereal  creatures. 
Yet  they  are  full  of  monition  and  instruction  in  so  far  as 
the  use  of  natural  laws  is  concerned;  and  in  their  sphere 
they  take  care  of  themselves,  without  unnecessary  friction  or 
unnecessary  fretting. 

Men  are  likewise  cared  for,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
according  to  their  nature  and  within  their  sphere.  Like  the 
birds  and  like  the  lilies,  they  are  called  to  do  their  own  part 
in  this  providence ;  and  they  do  it  with  the  exercise  and 
under  the  excitement  of  fear  and  apprehension.  They  vex 
the  days  with  speculations  full  of  pain  and  distress.  And 
the  point  of  the  parable  or  illustration  is  this  :  in  attempting 


510  PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE. 

to  develop  in  yourselves  the  kingdom  of  God,  a  manly  char- 
acter, you  are  under  a  providence  that  takes  care  of  you  just 
as  it  takes  care  of  the  hirds  and  the  lilies.  You  are  to  exert 
yourselves  as  the  birds  and  the  lilies  do ;  but  as  they  do  it 
serenely,  and  without  unnecessary  fret  and  care,  so  you  are  to 
do  it  serenely,  and  without  unnecessary  fret  and  care. 

This  gives  you  light  as  to  the  doctrine  of  divine  provi- 
dence, of  the  providence  of  God,  which  I  believe  to  be 
universal,  and  which  I  believe  also  to  be  special  and  personal, 
for  the  recognition  of  the  minutest  circumstances  of  men's 
lives.  The  providence  of  God  is  not  the  supersession  of 
natural  law.  The  moment  you  take  away  a  man's  faith  in 
great  natural  laws,  the  bottom  drops  out  of  human  endeavor. 
It  will  not  do  to  take  away  method  and  certainty,  and  substi- 
tute for  them  the  vagaries  and  superstitions  of  an  erratic 
imagination.  All  divine  help  proceeds  through  divine  law ; 
and  all  special  providences  are  by  the  use  and  under  the  cope 
of  a  system  of  laws.  God  uses  them,  we  may  believe,  as  we 
use  them. 

I  am  not  bound  by  natural  laws  ;  I  am  not  held  in  cap- 
tivity by  them.  When  we  speak  of  natural  laws  we  seem  to 
feel  that  they  are  certain  irresistible  forces  acting  in  certain 
definite  lines. 

Without  attempting  to  be  nice  in  the  definition  of  the 
term  "law,"  about  which  there  is  much  confusion  and  much 
variation  of  statement,  we  may  say  that  what  are  popularly 
understood  to  be  certain  divine  laws  are  not  coercive.  They 
are  not  in  any  sense  immutable.  They  are  entirely  mutable. 
They  are  not  inconsistent  with  an  overruling  providence. 
They  are  the  very  fountains  of  an  overruling  providence. 

In  other  words,  you  say,  "I  know  the  laws  of  light,  of 
moisture  and  of  heat ;  I  know  the  laws  that  govern  the 
soil ;  I  know  the  relation  between  the  seed  or  the  plant 
and  the  soil ;  and  it  is  because  I  know  that  these  things 
stand  in  such  relation  to  each  other,  and  because  I  act 
upon  that  knowledge,  that  there  is  a  certain  growth  and 
fructification."  We  make  natural  laws  work  in  certain 
physical  directions.  The  intelligence  of  the  mind  working 
through  natural  laws,  and  producing  given  results,  is  civil- 


PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE.  511 

ization.  "Without  the  intelligent  element,  the  great  natural 
world,  with  its  laws,  would  be  empty.  A  chaotic  period  of 
the  globe  would  come  again,  and  no  such  thing  as  civili- 
zation would  be  possible.  It  is  natural  law  directed  by 
personal  intelligence  that  makes  the  wilderness  bud  and 
blossom  as  the  rose,  and  creates  gardens,  plants  orchards, 
and  brings  civilization.  It  is  natural  law  acting  under  the 
direction  of  human  intelligence. 

Now,  all  that  we  need  for  a  better  understanding  of 
the  divine  providence  is  to  suppose  that  God  is  able  to 
do,  by  the  whole  scheme  of  the  globe  and  the  universe, 
what  we  see  men  do  in  special,  in  their  place,  and  in  their 
relations.  If  I  can  make  my  children  happy  by  being  a 
providence  to  them  ;  if  I  can  so  control  natural  laws  as  to 
make  my  household  poor  or  rich ;  if  I  can  so  use  natural 
law  as  to  make  my  average  state  high  or  low  ;  and  if  men 
in  general  have  this  power,  then  much  more  may  God,  by 
his  scheme  of  natural  laws,  and  by  his  intelligence  of  them, 
constitute  a  providence. 

It  is  under  this  providence  that  men  are  exhorted  to 
industry,  frugality,  foresight  and  prudence,  in  all  their 
relations,  while  seeking  to  build  up  in  themselves  this 
manly  character,  this  grand  divine  nature  implanted  in 
them.  While  they  are  trying  to  do  that,  the  Lord  says 
to  them,  "  You  are  doing  it  under  a  providence.  You  are 
doing  it  under  a  scheme  of  forces  which  are  in  them- 
selves adapted  for  that  work.  You  need  not  forsake  your 
fields,  your  farms,  your  shops,  your  warehouses,  in  order 
to  become  Christian  men.  It  is  through  the  right  use 
of  these  things  that  you  are  educating  yourselves  into 
Christian  dispositions.  The  end  of  your  life  is  true  man- 
hood ;  and  he  who  is  seeking  that  supremely  is  working 
under  a  scheme  of  natural  laws — of  a  providence  that 
will  provide  for  you  better  than  you  could  be  provided  for 
in  any  other  conceivable  way.  Let  him  that  would  be 
true,  be  true  ;  let  him  that  would  be  humane,  be  humane ; 
let  him  that  would  be  moral  and  spiritual,  be  moral  and 
spiritual ;  and  he  will  find  in  the  cultivation  of  these 
things  a  reflex  influence  exerted  on  his  industries ;  and 


512  PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE. 

his  enterprises  will  yield  more  abundantly  than  if  he  had 
made  selfishness  and  pride  and  avarice  the  motive  of  con- 
duct  in  the  great  secularities  of  life. 

"Wherefore,  if  God  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field,  which  to-day 
is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  shall  he  not  much  more  clothe 
you,  O  ye  of  little  faith?" 

If  in  the  conduct  of  the  lower  forms  of  animated  creation 
God  can  order  his  physical  laws  so  as  to  abundantly  take  care 
of  them,  shall  he  not  by  the  more  noble  laws  that  environ 
mankind,  be  able  to  take  care  of  them  ? 

"  Therefore,  take  no  thought  [be  not  anxious],  saying,  What  shall 
we  eat?  [never  saying,  What  shall  we  be?]  or,  What  shall  we  drink? 
[never  saying,  What  shall  we  aspire  to?]  or,  Wherewithal  shall  we  be 
clothed?  [outwardly;  and  never  saying,  What  robes  and  raiment 
shall  the  soul  have ?]  for  after  all  these  things  do  the  Gentiles  seek 
[that  is  the  way  the  unenlightened  Gentile  reasons];  for  your  hea- 
venly Father  knoweth  that  ye  have  need  of  all  these  things  [for  your 
lower  nature].  But  seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  right- 
eousness; and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you." 

Gain  that,  and  all  else  that  you  need  will  flow  from  it. 
That  piety  which  is  of  the  large,  true,  noble  type  is  sufficient, 
because  it  carries  the  promise  of  the  life  that  now  is,  as  well 
as  of  that  which  is  to  come. 

"Take  therefore  no  [anxious]  thought  for  the  morrow;  for  the 
morrow  shall  take  thought  for  the  things  of  itself.  Sufficient  unto 
the  day  is  the  evil  thereof." 


PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE.  513 

PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

WE  rejoice  in  thee,  our  Father.  Thy  wisdom,  thy  power  and  thy 
glory  we  cannot  compass  to  understand ;  and  yet,  whatever  there  is 
of  thee,  whatever  there  is  of  power,  and  of  wisdom,  and  of  glory, 
are  ours ;  for  we  are  thy  children,  and  thou  art  our  Father,  and  thou 
canst  not  be  built  up  to  an  estate  of  power  and  glory  that  will  not 
make  us  the  more  rich  and  the  more  blessed.  Grant  that  the  con- 
nection which  is  between  us  and  thee  may  be  realized,  and  that  we 
may  cease  to  look  so  much  to  the  earth,  as  they  that  sprang  from 
it ;  that  we  may  look  more  and  more  to  thee,  and  know  that  the 
true  manhood  in  us,  and  which  life  is  bringing  forth,  is  of  God. 
We  pray  that  we  may  have  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  which  lies 
in  this  connection  of  our  souls  with  thine.  Here  is  our  life.  Our 
life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God;  in  that  blessed  revelation  which  he 
hath  made;  in  that  glorious  faith  which  he  inspires;  in  the  power 
of  that  love  which  draws  us  by  our  inward  and  best  nature  to  the 
divine.  In  this  our  life  is  hidden,  in  this  our  life  is  strong;  so 
that  they  who  love  thee,  and  live  in  the  trust  of  God  and  in  the  peace 
which  passeth  all  understanding,  are  served  by  whatever  there  is  of 
life.  Joy  is  theirs,  and  sorrows  are  theirs.  Thou  art  theirs  in  dark- 
ness, and  thou  art  theirs  in  light.  Thou  art  theirs  in  adversity,  and 
thou  art  theirs  in  prosperity.  Whom  thou  lovest  thou  chastenest  so 
that  adversity  is  robbed  of  its  terror.  If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be 
against  us?  What  weapon  formed  against  thee  shall  prosper?  In 
thee  we  glory.  We  rejoice  in  the  Lord ;  we  rejoice  from  day  to  day 
with  increasing  joy ;  and  we  pray  that  the  plenitude  of  this  inward 
life,  and  all  its  remunerations  of  faith,  may  be  more  and  more 
apparent  to  thy  people.  Open  within  them  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Widen  it.  Grant  that  its  bounds  may  evermore  increase  with  them. 
May  it  be  for  us,  every  one,  to  know  within  ourselves  the  true  king- 
dom. May  we  therein  from  day  to  day  be  strong,  and  hidden  as  in  a 
tower  of  defense  and  in  a  fortress,  against  our  adversaries.  We  pray 
that  thou  wilt  grant  that  the  light  of  the  truth  may  dawn  on  their 
eyes  who  see  it  not,  or  who  dimly  see  it.  And  we  pray  that  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  the  truth  may  be  revealed  in  the  inward  consciousness 
and  experience  of  thy  people  more  and  more  amply ;  and  we  pray 
that  in  them  thy  precious  word  may  be  no  longer  powerful  in  the  let- 
ter only,  but  in  the  spirit.  May  it  be  a  disclosure  in  them.  May  it 
be  transferred,  so  that  the  truth  shall  be  understood  by  their  living 
consciousness. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  bless  all  those  that  are  especially  in  thy 
care  to-night.  All  who  have  come  bringing  petitions  and  requests — 
hear  thou  them.  All  who  ask  for  strength,  all  who  ask  for  consola- 
tion, all  who  ask  for  guidance,  all  who  ask  that  they  may  learn  to 
love— by  love  cleanse  thou  them,  and  set  them  on  their  way  toward 
the  heavenly  land  rejoicing. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  bless  this  church,  in  all  its  works  of  love; 
in  all  its  schools  and  missions.  And  bless  the  more  those  who 
po  every  Sabbath  day  from  the  midst  of  their  families  to  give  time 
and  strength  to  those  who  are  less  favored ;  and  we  beseech  of  thee 


514  PRAYER  AND  PROVIDENCE. 

that  they  may  be  prepared  for  their  holy  work  by  the  baptism  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

Grant  thy  blessing  to  rest  upon  all  the  churches  of  this  city,  and 
upon  all  the  pastors.  May  they  grow  in  grace  and  in  favor  with  God 
and  with  men. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  bless  all  instrumentalities  throughout  this 
land  which  are  for  the  furtherance  of  the  truth,  and  for  the  promo- 
tion of  intelligence,  and  morality,  and  pure  religion;  and  may 
those  jealousies  and  those  irritations  which  have  existed  between 
church  and  church  throughout  this  land,  and  throughout  the  world, 
pass  away,  and  be  gathered  among  the  things  of  days  of  twilight  and 
of  darkness;  and  let  that  blessed  time  come  when  men  shall  see  eye 
to  eye,  and  heart  beat  responsive  to  heart,  and  thy  kingdom  be  one, 
though  there  be  infinite  varieties— one  differing  from  another  in 
love,  one  in  trust  and  faith,  and  one  in  power;  and  we  pray  that 
thus  thy  name  may  be  glorified  in  the  midst  of  this  people,  and 
spread  abroad  the  light  of  truth  everywhere  to  the  dark  places  of  the 
earth  and  the  continents  in  which  night  dwells.  We  pray  for  all 
nations.  We  pray  for  the  ingathering  of  the  Jew  and  the  Gentile 
for  the  final  glory— for  that  millennial  day  when  thou  shalt  reign 
a  thousand  years. 

And  to  thy  name  shall  be  the  praise,  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit. 
Amen. 


PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

GBANT,  our  Father,  that  we  may  rest  in  thee,  rejoice  in  thee,  and 
seek  to  change  these  natures  of  ours  from  selfishness  and  from  pas- 
sion, and  from  all  that  is  low  and  degrading,  into  truly  divine 
natures  of  love,  and  purity,  and  peace,  and  joy,  and  of  righteousness ; 
and  in  this  higher  power  of  a  redeemed  and  regenerate  nature  grant 
that  we  may  not  only  find  thee,  but  that  we  may  make  proof  that  in 
the  wisdom  derived  from  this  higher  life,  all  our  lower  duties  are  the 
more  easily  performed,  and  that  we  see  more  clearly,  that  we  judge 
more  accurately,  and  that  we  have  motives  for  more  patience  in  the 
fulfillment  of  disagreeable  duties,  and  that  we  walk  stronger  and  are 
mightier  by  reason  of  the  things  of  the  kingdom  than  we  would  be 
if,  without  that  kingdom,  we  were  clothed  with  all  human  powor. 

Grant  that  we  may  have  this  conception,  that  we  may  live  more 
and  more  in  thy  Spirit,  and  that  we  may  dispense  with  unnecessary 
thoughts  and  anxieties  which  spring  from  fear,  and  that  we  may 
trust  God,  and  be  at  rest.  We  ask  it  through  the  adorable  name  of 
Jesus,  to  whom,  with  the  Father  and  the  Spirit,  shall  be  praises  ever- 
more. Amen, 


WHAT  IS  RELIGION? 


I  shall  take  for  a  starting  point,  in  the  remarks  that  1 
make  this  morning,  the  19th  verse  of  the  3d  chapter  of  the 
2d  Epistle  to  Timothy : 

"  Nevertheless  the  foundation  of  God  standeth  sore,  baying  this 
eeal,  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his." 

The  context  is  thig  : 

"  Who  concerning  the  truth  have  erred,  saying  that  the  resurrec- 
tion is  past  already ;  and  overthrow  the  faith  of  some.  Nevertheless 
the  foundation  of  God  standeth  sure." 

We  have  come  in  our  day  into  times  precisely  like  those 
of  the  apostle,  in  which  there  is  a  great  movement  through- 
out the  whole  civilized  world,  and  a  great  change  of  feeling, 
an  apprehension  or  what  is  worse,  in  regard  to  the  stability 
of  the  Christian  religion. 

There  are  two  classes  that  look  upon  this  matter  from 
very  different  standpoints.  On  the  one  side  are  those  who 
are  devout  philosophers  in  religion,  and  who  hear  doctrines 
which  seem  to  them  to  be  very  strange  expositions  of  Chris- 
tianity— doctrines  which  they  have  not  been  accustomed  to. 
They  see  the  manners  and  customs  of  religious  institutions 
or  churches  very  much  disturbed ;  and  they  have  an  impres- 
sion that  evil  is  coming  in  like  a  flood,  that  the  foundations 
are  being  removed,  that  the  old  landmarks  are  being  taken 
out  of  the  way,  that  everything  is  going  to  wreck  and  ruin, 
and  that  rank  infidelity,  atheism  and  anarchy  are  going  to 
overflow  the  world. 

Then,  on  the  other  extreme,  there  are  those  who  feel  that 
religion  is  not  worth  anything  at  all  if  it  stands  on  founda- 
tions of  the  past ;  but  that  it  is  like  an  old  stubble-field,  that 

Preached  at  the  Twm  MOUNTAIN  HOUSE,  White  Mountains,  N.  H.,  Sunday  morn- 
Ing,  August  23d,  1871.  Lesson  :  Gal.  T.,  1-13.  Hymns  (Plymouth  Collection) :  Nos.  W. 
706,  Doxolony. 


518  WHAT  IS  RELIGION t 

it  was  valuable  one  or  two  thousand  years  ago,  that  some 
wheat  was  reaped  from  it  then,  but  that  what  was  good  in 
it  has  been  gathered  out,  and  that  we  are  coming,  by  prog- 
ress, to  a  new  era.  Some  think  it  is  to  be  an  era  of  spirit- 
ualism, in  which  there  are  to  be  glimpses  of  light  and  knowl- 
edge from  other  spheres ;  and  yet,  what  foundation  it  is  to 
stand  upon  they  do  not  know,  though  they  think  it  will  stand 
on  something. 

In  sympathy  with  these,  or  in  antagonism  to  them,  as  the 
case  may  be,  there  is  a  host  of  men  who  believe  that  science 
is  breaking  the  seal,  and  that  the  things  of  God,  hidden  from 
the  foundations  of  the  world,  are  now  being  made  known 
through  the  ministrations  of  science ;  and  they  say,  "  Away 
with  your  superstitions  and  dogmas  and  doctrines !  They 
may  once  have  been  helpful ;  but  the  time  has  come  for  the 
shining  of  truth  through  science." 

So,  in  these  different  ways — some  out  of  fear  for  the 
integrity  of  religious  things,  and  some  with  the  hope  that 
there  is  to  be  a  far  more  blessed  day  of  knowledge  than  ever 
before,  and  almost  all,  I  think,  with  an  amiable,  kind,  humane 
feeling — this  great  outlying,  skirting  host  are  of  opinion  that 
religion  is  pretty  much  done  up,  and  that  we  are  now  to  look 
for  something  better. 

To  all  such  I  say,  The  foundations  of  God  stand  yet,  firm 
and  sure ;  and  I  declare  that  the  essential  elements  of  Chris- 
tianity were  never  so  apparent  as  to-day;  that  they  were 
never  so  influential ;  that  they  were  never  so  likely  to  pro- 
duce institutions  of  power ;  that  they  never  had  such  a  hold 
on  human  reason  and  human  conscience ;  and  that  the  re- 
ligious impulse  of  the  human  race  was  never  so  deep,  and 
never  so  strong  in  its  current. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  we  must  recollect  that  there  may 
be  very  great  changes  around  about  religion,  in  its  external 
forms,  without  any  essential  interior  change,  nay,  even  with 
the  augmentation  of  its  interior  power.  I  will  aflmit  that 
there  has  been  a  great  change  of  the  forms  in  which  facts  have 
been  woven  into  doctrines.  In  other  words,  the  great  outlying 
facts  of  human  consciousness — the  nature  of  man ;  the  char- 
acter of  intelligence  and  of  volition  ;  the  truths  of  respond- 


WHAT  IS  RELIGION  t  519 

oility  and  moral  government ;  what  they  are ;  how  they  are 
to  be  brought  together  into  a  perfect  system ;  the  existence 
of  God  and  of  a  divine  providence — all  these  things  have 
been  held  in  various  ways,  and  have  been  philosophically 
stated  in  different  forms ;  and  that  there  has  been,  and  is  yet 
to  be,  a  great  change  in  the  mode  of  stating  these  things,  I 
do  not  deny ;  but  I  hold  that  their  statement  is  one  which 
grows  better  and  better  from  age  to  age.  Some  men  think 
that  anything  which  is  a  revelation  from  God  must  be  always 
one  and  the  same  thing ;  but  God's  revelation  is  alphabetic  ; 
it  is  a  revelation  of  letters,  and  they  can  be  combined  and  re- 
combined  in  ten  thousand  different  words,  varying  endlessly. 
The  great  facts  which  are  fundamental  to  consciousness,  once 
being  given,  are  alphabetic ;  and  these  facts  may  be  com- 
bined ;  and  with  the  development  of  the  human  race  in 
intelligence  and  moral  excellence  they  go  on  taking  new 
forms ;  and  larger  experiences  must  have  a  larger  expres- 
sion. The  trouble  with  a  statement  in  an  early  age  is,  that 
while  it  is  true  to  the  sum  of  the  knowledge  of  that  age,  each 
age  develops  an  individuality  of  its  own,  knowledge  making 
it  larger ;  and  a  statement  must  be  made  which  is  as  large  as 
the  actual  experience  of  the  human  soul  has  been. 

Take  agriculture.  In  the  earliest  period  of  the  settlement 
of  a  neighborhood,  men  clear  a  piece  containing  a  few  acres  of 
ground,  and  put  such  a  fence  around  it  as  they  can  afford, 
and  plow  among  the  stumps,  and  leave  them  standing ;  but  as 
time  goes  on  the  stumps  disappear,  and  in  twenty  or  thirty 
years,  when  they  are  gone,  a  man,  coming  back,  and  missing 
them,  says,  "  Why,  where  are  those  precious  stumps  that  1 
remember  used  to  be  in  this  field  ?  The  boys  have  easy  times 
plowing  now-a-days ;  but  when  I  was  a  boy  it  meant  some- 
thing to  plow  among  those  stumps  and  their  roots.  This  is 
not  what  I  call  farming.  You  are  all  going  to  effeminacy." 
It  is  not  such  farming  as  he  was  used  to ;  but  it  is  better  than 
the  farming  that  belonged  to  primitive  times,  which  may 
have  had  its  pleasant  memories  and  associations,  but  which 
was  not  farming  in  its  highest  form.  Has  not  agriculture 
grown  ?  Has  it  lost  ground  because  the  fences  and  the  plowa 
are  bettor  than  they  were  at  the  beginning,  and  because  ouo 


520  WHAT  IS  RELIGION* 

man  jan  now  do  as  much  as  ten  men  then  :-ould  ?  Has  agri- 
culture gone  under  because  its  instruments  are  changed,  and 
because  its  forms  are  different  ?  Is  not  the  change  it  has  un- 
dergone a  sign  of  advancement  and  improvement  ? 

So,  in  the  knowledges  of  the  world,  and  in  its  various  in- 
stitutions, there  have  been  changes,  and  there  are  to  be 
changes ;  but  they  are  progressive.  On  the  whole,  they  arc 
not  ominous  of  evil,  but  are  full  of  fructifications  of  hope. 

The  changes  of  religious  institutions  trouble  people ;  and 
if  I  supposed  that  the  church  was  an  exactly  ordered  institu- 
tion, I  should  be  troubled  about  its  changes ;  but  according 
to  my  understanding  it  is  not  such  an  institution. 

When  an  architect  has  drawn  the  plan  of  a  house,  or  a 
public  building,  his  lines  are  laid  down  just  so,  his  measure- 
ments are  precise,  and  he  specifies  whether  it  shall  be  of  wood 
or  brick  or  stone ;  and  the  contract  is  made  according  to 
the  specifications,  and  the  builder  has  to  follow  them. 

Now,  there  are  many  who  think  that  the  church  was  sent 
to  us  in  that  way,  that  there  are  just  such  lines  and  meas- 
urements laid  down  respecting  it,  and  that  we  are  bound  to 
follow  those  lines  and  measurements.  They  think  that  exact 
ordinances  are  prescribed,  and  that  we  are  under  obligation 
to  observe  them. 

If  I  believed  this,  I  should  look  upon  the  innovations  oi 
modern  times  as  dangerous ;  but  I  do  not  believe  the  church 
was  ordained  to  be  in  a  particular  shape  any  more  than  I  be- 
lieve that  schools  were.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  New  Testa- 
ment prescribes  that  our  ordinances  and  methods  of  worship 
shall  take  on  any  given  form.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  rules 
and  regulations  of  the  church  were  made  precise  and  specific 
any  more  than  those  of  town  meetings,  or  the  constitutions 
of  the  several  States,  or  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
were.  Government  is  ordained  in  the  nature  of  man,  and  it 
begins  to  operate,  and  men  find  out  among  themselves,  by 
their  experience,  that  their  government  is  to  be  formed  and 
administered  largely  according  to  the  climate  and  physical 
characteristics  of  the  country  where  they  are,  the  degree  of 
civilization  which  they  have  attained,  and  the  exigencies  of 
national  life  as  they  arise. 


WHAT  IS  RELIGION T  521 

The  same  is  true  of  religious  institutions.  I  believe  that 
God  ordained  the  church.  That  is  to  say,  when  he  made 
men  he  made  them  social  beings,  so  that  no  man  can  live 
without,  wanting  to  touch  his  fellow  men  somewhere.  It  is 
the  necessities  of  men's  social  natures  that  have  led  them  to 
come  together  in  churches. 

When  patriotism  swells  in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  sets 
them  on  fire,  no  man  wants  to  be  alone  in  the  field,  and  he 
seeks  his  neighbor,  who  joins  him  ;  and  the  villagers  unite 
together ;  and  the  more  intense  men's  feelings  are,  the  more 
they  run  to  each  other.  For  we  are  not  born  to  be  separate 
drops,  but  drops  united  together  to  form  streams,  with  chan- 
nels deep  and  wide,  and  with  impetuous  currents.  When  God 
made  men  with  social  natures,  he  ordained  that  they  should 
come  together  by  their  loves,  by  their  tastes,  by  their  enthusi- 
asms ;  and  that  ordination  is  the  foundation  on  which  the 
church  stands.  It  is  decreed  that  you  shall  come  together 
with  your  aspiration,  with  your  devotion,  with  your  affection, 
with  your  hope. 

So  God  created  the  church  ;  but  whether  it  should  be  Pres- 
byterian, or  Methodist,  or  Baptist,  or  Congregational,  or  Epis- 
copalian, or  Roman  Catholic — God  has  never  troubled  himself 
about  that,  though  his  zealous  disciples  have.  The  form  of 
the  instrument  of  religion  is  not  a  part  of  his  decrees.  He  no 
more  ordained  that  divine  worship  should  be  carried  on  in 
certain  fixed  ways  than  he  ordained  that  men  who  live  by 
agriculture  should  harrow  or  furrow  their  fields.  Agriculture 
does  not  stand  on  the  machines  irhich  it  employs,  but  on  the 
necessity  of  men  to  eat.  When  God  made  men  hungry  he 
foreordained  agriculture.  And  in  the  matter  of  the  church, 
it  does  not  stand  on  its  ordinances. 

But  do  not  think  that  I  am  speaking  contemptuously  of 
these  things.  What  I  desire  to  be  understood  as  saying  is, 
that  men  have  no  business  to  worship  an  ordinance.  I  say 
that  men  have  no  right  to  make  an  idol  of  the  church,  or  of 
Sunday,  or  of  the  Bible,  or  of  anything  that  is  in  itself  an 
instrument.  Religion  is  something  other  than  the  instrument 
by  which  it  is  produced. 

Do  I  say  my  prayers  to  the  school-house  ?    No.    And  yet, 


522  WHAT  IS  RELIQIONt 

I  believe  in  intelligence  ;  and  the  school  is  simply  an  instru- 
ment by  which  we  develop  that  intelligence.  Do  I  say  my 
prayers  to  the  arithmetic,  the  geography,  and  the  grammar  ? 
No.  I  think  they  are  useful ;  but  I  would  kick  them  every 
one  out  of  the  house  if  you  were  to  tell  me  that  I  must 
say  my  prayers  to  them.  They  are  my  servants,  my  helps, 
but  not  my  masters. 

And  so,  when  men  open  the  doors  of  the  sanctuary  on 
Sunday,  the  church  is  not  my  master :  I  am  its  master,  for  I 
am  a  son  of  God.  It  is  simply  the  chariot  which  he  has  sent 
to  carry  me  on  my  journey. 

When  a  minister  stands  to  teach  me,  is  he  my  master  ? 
No.  If  he  can  help  me,  well  and  good.  Like  other  men,  he 
is  to  be  estimated  according  to  what  he  can  do.  What  he  is, 
that  am  I.  I  am  a  sinner  before  God,  living  on  God's  mercy 
and  goodness,  and  that  is  he.  No  ordination,  no  long  line 
of  influences,  though  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  years 
should  rest  on  his  head,  would  make  a  man  anything  but  a 
man.  And  when  he  ceases  to  be  a  man,  he  dies,  and  is  gone. 
All  men  that  live  have  the  same  passions  and  appetites ;  hu- 
man nature  is  the  same  everywhere ;  and  ministers  have  their 
pride,  their  vanity,  their  weaknesses  and  their  temptable- 
nesses;  they  are  all  just  common  men;  and  God  never  put 
one  of  them  over  his  fellows,  or  made  him  superior  to  them. 
Still  less  did  God  ever  say  to  an  ordinance,  "  Go  down  and 
stand  in  the  midst  of  men,  and  make  them  bow  to  you." 
Therefore,  not  to  the  refluent  waves,  nor  to  the  sprinkling 
drops,  nor  to  any  instrument,  will  I  bow  down,  and  say, 
"Ye  are  my  master."  God  is  my  master;  and  to  these 
things  I  say,  "Ye  are  my  servants;"  and  I  look  down  on 
them  all. 

Now,  when  I  see  that  there  is  change  in  the  institutions 
of  religion,  in  the  currents  of  government,  and  in  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  church,  I  do  not  stand  quivering,  and  saying, 
"  Men  have  departed  from  the  counsels  of  God,  and  religion 
is  going  to  destruction,  and  we  do  not  know  where  it  will 
end."  I  say  that  religion  lies,  not  in  outside  things,  but  in 
the  states  of  men's  minds.  It  is  the  way  that  they  think  and 
feel  and  act  that  determines  what  their  religion  is.  Religion 


WHAT  IS  RELIGION  f  523 

is  human  experience.  It  is  the  soul's  action  God-ward  and 
man -ward.  And  if  religion  is  going  out  of  the  world,  it  is 
not  because  the  old  church  is  unshingled,  nor  because  the 
familiar  bell  has  stopped  swinging  in  the  belfry,  nor  because 
men  are  indifferent  to  forms,  nor  because  they  do  not  care 
for  the  Book,  nor  because  the  ministry  is  not  revered  as  it 
used  to  be.  These  things  may  be  fortunate  or  unfortunate, 
according  to  circumstances ;  but  religion  will  not  have  died 
out  of  the  world  until  it  has  died  out  of  the  human  soul. 
Religion  is  the  experience  of  human  souls  in  their  relations 
to  God.  Sympathy  toward  God  and  men — that  is  religion ; 
and  whether  that  is  decreasing  or  increasing  in  power  through- 
out the  world  will  not  be  judged  by  these  external  signs  or 
measurements,  but  by  other  and  very  different  ones. 

It  is  said  that  men  do  not  believe  in  virtue.  Well,  when 
a  man  tells  me  that  the  refinements  of  the  school-men  are 
lapsing  on  questions  which  relate  to  eternal  regeneration 
through  the  Son  of  God,  and  that  many  of  the  fine  distinc- 
tions between  ability -natural  and  ability-spiritual  are  going 
out  of  men's  thoughts  and  out  of  much  use,  I  admit  it ;  but 
I  say  that  the  great  fundamental  truths  of  religion — namely, 
the  nature  of  man,  the  wants  of  man,  and  divine  love  as  a 
sufficient  supply  for  human  wants — instead  of  growing  weaker 
are  growing  stronger  in  men's  minds. 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  teaching  in  regard  to  the 
depravity  of  man.  I  think  I  could  preach  to  you  a  doctrine 
of  total  depravity,  after  the  old  fashioned  sort,  which  would 
make  every  one  of  yon  red  in  the  face,  and  angry,  so  that  you 
would  say,  "  I  do  not  believe  a  word  of  it;"  and  I  think  I 
could  preach  to  you  what  men  tried  to  preach  in  the  olden 
time  on  that  subject  so  that  yon  would  not  one  of  you 
deny  it 

For  example,  every  man  is  bora  at  zero.  He  is  nothing 
at  first.  We  are  told  that  men  are  born  without  original 
righteousness ;  but  this  is  not  half  of  it ;  they  are  born  without 
original  anything,  except  a  little  sack  of  pulpy  matter.  The 
supreme  function  at  birth  is  suction.  Men  are  born  without 
a  name  and  without  a  trade.  They  are  born  without  power 
to  walk,  without  power  to  handle  anything,  without  power  to 


524:  WHAT  IS  RELIGION t 

see,  and  without  power  to  hear.  Their  senses  are  not  bom 
until  they  have  been  in  the  world  months  and  months.  It  is 
a  mere  seed  that  is  born.  When,  therefore,  I  am  told  that 
men  are  born  without  original  righteousness,  I  do  not  find 
any  difficulty  in  believing  that;  for  they  are  born  without 
anything.  They  do  not  feel  nor  think.  They  are  a  bundle 
of  capacities  susceptible  of  development  by-and-by.  There  is 
not  one  element  in  that  wonderful,  obscure,  undeveloped 
thing  called  a  ~bciby,  which  is  not  unfolded  by  the  law  of 
gradualism,  little  by  little,  step  by  step.  We  do  not  learn  to 
see  except  by  experience  in  seeing.  The  eye  is  all  right ;  but 
it  is  to  be  trained  for  its  function.  We  cannot  stretch  out 
the  hand,  or  bring  it  back,  or  do  anything  with  it  until  we 
have  learned  to  use  it. 

There  is  a  jubilee  in  the  family  when  the  child  first  walks. 
The  father  comes  home  at  night,  and  the  mother  says,  "  Oh, 
baby  has  walked  !  baby  has  walked  !"  Yes,  it  has  walked  ; 
but  it  had  to  practice  a  great  while  before  it  could  get  up, 
and  stand  on  its  feet,  and  take  one  step  after  another  without 
falling.  Walking  has  to  be  learned  ;  and  when  the  child  has 
learned  to  walk,  what  infinite  slappings  there  are  to  teach  it 
to  not  walk  where  it  ought  not  to  !  How  we  strive  to  teach 
the  child  to  talk  !  and  then  how  we  rebuke  him  because 
he  talks  too  much,  or  at  the  wrong  times  !  How  much  time 
is  spent  in  teaching  him  how  to  reach  out  his  hand !  and 
then  how  his  hand  gets  whipped  when  he  reaches  it  out  and 
puts  it  into  the  sweet-meats !  Everything  is  taught,  and 
everything  comes  by  practice,  in  these  matters. 

When,  therefore,  it  is  said  that  men  are  born  in  a  deplor- 
able state  of  wickedness,  and  that  there  is  no  original  right- 
eousness, you  accept  it  as  much  as  the  old  divines  used  to. 
You  state  it  differently,  but  you  recognize  it.  It  is  inherent 
m  human  nature.  Nobody  can  deny  it  as  it  is  stated  and 
explained  now,  and  nobody  is  disposed  to. 

But  that  is  not  all ;  it  is  not  possible  for  man,  beginning 
at  nothing,  to  unfold  and  grow  up  to  something,  without 
making  many  mistakes.  The  child  does  not  walk  perfectly  at 
the  outset ;  it  is  not  possible  that  he  should  ;  and  you  do  not 
set  it  down  against  him.  The  child  is  not  able  to  use  his 


WHAT  IS  RELIGION?  52ft 

baud  at  once ;  but  nobody  sets  tbat  down  against  bim.  It 
is  a  part  of  God's  original  design  in  tbe  world  tbat  men 
shall  be  born  at  the  seminal  point,  and  grow  up  gradually  to- 
ward perfection ;  and  that  being  tbe  original  design,  imper- 
fection is  a  part  of  it. 

As  no  man  can  use  bis  eye  except  he  has  been  drilled  to 
do  it,  and  as  no  man  can  use  his  hand  except  he  has  been 
drilled  to  do  that,  so  no  man  can  use  his  reason  without 
having  been  taught  to  use  it.  When  the  child  goes  to 
school,  and  undertakes  to  learn  to  write,  the  master,  if  he  fails 
to  make  a  round  and  beautiful  0,  does  not  say  to  him,  "  That 
is  total  depravity.  You  ought  to  write  right."  We  wait  for 
a  child  that  is  learning  to  write,  and  give  him  a  chance  to  be- 
come proficient  by  practice.  Early  imperfections  are  not  nec- 
essarily blameworthy.  They  are  largely  inherent,  and  necessary 
to  the  conditions  in  which  men  are  placed  in  this  world  by  the 
creative  fiat  of  God  himself.  When  a  child  begins  to  learn  a 
trade  we  expect  him  to  spoil  tools.  When  a  young  man 
commences  to  do  carpenter's  work  we  do  not  find  fault  with 
him  because  he  does  not  shove  the  plane  just  so,  or  use  the 
saw  in  the  best  manner,  or  make  his  joints  exactly  right. 
We  wait  for  him  to  learn  these  things.  The  process  of 
learning  a  trade  is  called  apprenticeship.  We  have  an  ap- 
prenticeship for  the  hand,  an  apprenticeship  for  the  foot,  an 
apprenticeship  for  the  eye,  and  an  apprenticeship  for  the  ear. 
When  a  man  learns  arithmetic  and  grammar  he  goes  through 
an  apprenticeship  of  the  reason.  And  do  not  you  think  that 
there  is  an  apprenticeship  for  the  affections  and  the  moral 
sentiments  ?  There  is ;  and  it  is  harder  to  develop  the 
higher  powers  in  the  soul  than  it  is  to  develop  the  lower ; 
it  takes  longer;  and  it  is  attended  with  more  imperfec- 
tions ;  and  these  imperfections  are  a  part  of  God's  foreseeing 
wisdom. 

Just  here  comes  in  the  distinction  between  infirmities  or 
faults,  and  transgressions  or  sins.  The  Scriptures  recognize 
a  difference  in  them.  Wrong  things  done  on  purpose  are 
sins ;  and  those  things  which  fall  out  from  inexperience,  from 
not  knowing,  from  weakness  or  from  imperfection,  are  fault* 
Imperfections  inhere  in  the  whole  divine  conception  of  the 


526  WHAT  IS  RELIGION? 

human  race  on  the  globe  ;  and  men  are  filled  with  infirmities, 
of  necessity ;  and  these  infirmities  break  out  into  transgres- 
sions more  or  less  complicated  all  the  way  down. 

Now,  I  have  been  stating  facts ;  but  suppose  that  I  should 
say  to  you,  "  The  doctrine  of  the  Bible  is  that  men  are  sin- 
ful ;  and  so  sinful  that  they  all  need  to  be  born  again"?  I  do 
teach  that  doctrine,  in  its  totality.  Everybody  is  imperfect. 
Everybody  sins  with  every  part  of  his  mind.  Nobody  ever 
becomes  manly  and  strong  except  by  an  overruling  influence 
that  inspires  him,  and  lifts  him  up  from  the  lower  plane  to 
the  higher. 

And  so,  after  all  the  pother  that  is  made  about  the  doc- 
trines of  human  depravity,  and  the  need  of  regeneration  by 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  they  not  true  ?  Men  kick 
them  about  like  so  many  foot-balls ;  but  do  they  not  recog- 
nize them  as  true  when  they  are  stated  in  a  different  way  from 
that  in  which  they  have  been  accustomed  to  hear  them  stated, 
and  in  a  way  which  is  suited  to  the  experience  of  our  times  ? 
To  us  the  old  doctrines  may  seem  to  be  dying,  but  the  old 
human  nature  is  just  the  same  everywhere.  Men  are  empty, 
and  do  not  know  how  to  do  right  things  till  they  have  learn 
ed  ;  and  they  learn  painfully,  and  under  circumstances  iu 
•vhich  they  want  divine  inspiration ;  for  no  man  rises  from  a 
low  plane  to  the  higher  one  of  heroism  and  enthusiasm  with- 
out the  aid  of  a  higher  mind  than  his  own. 

Men  think  these  truths  are  passing  out  of  the  world ;  but 
I  say  they  are  simply  taking  another  form  of  exposition. 
The  truths  themselves  are  inherent,  universal,  indestructible. 

I  think  that  if  there  be  any  one  thing  that  has  been  mis- 
interpreted, it  is  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  influence  upon 
the  human  soul.  As  I  recollect  my  own  belief  when  I  was  a 
child — and  I  was  an  orthodox  child — I  believed  that  when  a 
man  who  was  born  a  sinner,  and  who  had  grown  up  in  sin, 
came  to  a  certain  age,  and  went  through  a  proper  fermenta- 
tion, and  had  dejected  the  lees,  as  it  were,  and  left  the  wine 
of  life  pretty  clear  above,  he  was  converted.  I  believed  that 
he  then  passed  from  the  north  side  of  the  hedge,  where  it  was 
shady,  to  the  south  side,  where  the  sun  always  shone.  I  be- 
lieved that  God  shone  on  his  elect,  that  they  had  the  divine 


WHAT  IS  RELIGION t  52? 

influence,  and  that  no  others  had.  But  my  impression  now 
is,  that  there  is  not  a  single  human  soul  that  is  not  the  pro- 
duct of  the  divine  Spirit,  and  that  that  Spirit  is  the  vivific 
element  of  the  universe;  and  that  as  the  sun  in  spring  knocks 
at  the  tomb  of  every  sleeping  plant,  and  there  is  a  resurrec- 
tion wherever  there  is  a  bud  or  germ,  and  there  is  not  a  daisy 
or  harebell,  or  ranunculus,  or  flower  of  any  kind  that  does 
not  start  at  the  solicitation  of  the  sun's  light  and  warmth,  so 
the  roots  of  power  being  here  in  human  souls,  there  must  be 
a  shining  of  the  divine  Soul  directly  upon  them  to  bring  out 
in  them  intelligence,  emotions,  and  moral  sentiments.  This 
down-shining  influence  of  God  is  universal 

What,  does  the  Spirit  of  God  help  men  before  conversion? 
Oh,  yes;  all  men,  always  and  everywhere — the  savage  and  the 
semi-civilized  as  well  as  the  civilized.  All  men,  whatever 
may  be  their  nature,  are  under  the  divine  guidance  of  provi- 
dence, and  of  the  stimulating  influence  of  the  divine  Spirit 
All  may  not  profit  by  it  as  much  as  we  do,  but  it  is  as  much 
for  them  as  for  us.  All  do  not  profit  by  the  sun  alike,  but 
the  sun  shines  as  much  for  one  as  for  another.  Some  are  lazy 
and  some  are  industrious ;  and  it  depends  upon  each  one  how 
far  he  shall  derive  benefit  from  the  life-giving  power  of  the 
sun.  How  much  profit  shall  be  enjoyed  by  each  one  is  deter- 
mined, not  by  the  sun,  but  by  the  man  who  receives  its  light 
and  heat.  The  sun  means  gold  to  one  man,  and  mud  to  an- 
other. It  means  active  energy  to  one  man,  and  sitting  in  the 
corner  of  laziness  to  another.  The  sun  is  not  to  blame  if  men 
do  not  take  its  bounty. 

And  so  inspiration  comes  to  all  men.  Those  who  receive 
what  they  can  take  in  of  it  are  thus  prepared  to  receive  more, 
and  to  be  made  better  and  better  by  it.  And  I  think  that 
this  doctrine  of  divine  inspiration  and  down-shining,  in- 
stead of  being  less  believed  than  ever  before,  is  more  be- 
lieved. It  is  taking  on  some  extravagant  forms  ami  modes 
of  expression;  its  philosophy  is  not  always  the  wisest  and 
best ;  but  I  think  there  is  a  prevalent  growing  feeling  that 
God  is  nearer  to  the  human  race  now  than  he  was  in  the  past; 
that  he  is  the  universal  Father  of  mankind ;  that  those  lim- 
itations and  distinctions  which  exist  among  men  are  a  part  of 


528  WHAT  IS  RELIGION? 

God's  original  design;  and  that  more  men  are  coming  to  him, 
and  coming  in  more  ways,  than  ever  before. 

Do  not  think  that  you  are  the  only  men  that  pray. 
Drunkards  pray.  There  is  not  a  man  here  who  has  put 
up  such  anguishful  petitions  to  God  as  some  men  have 
who  are  very  bad  in  the  sight  of  the  world.  Do  you  sup- 
pose that  men  who  are  bad  go  down  without  prickings  of 
conscience,  and  without  many  yearnings  for  the  inteipc- 
sition  of  God's  power?  I  tell  you,  the  struggles  of  men 
who  are  going  down  to  death  are  often  a  thousand  times 
more  admirable  in  the  sight  of  God  than  the  easy  efforts 
of  men  naturally  born  to  virtue.  It  was  the  one  that  was 
lost  that  God  thought  of  more  than  of  the  ninety  and  nine 
just  persons  who  needed  no  repentance ;  and  I  think  the 
prevalent  feeling  is  that  God  never  was  nearer  to  men,  and 
never  more  helpful  toward  them,  and  never  dearer  to  them 
than  to-day.  The  first  truth  is  the  Fatherhood  of  God  ;  the 
next  is  the  brotherhood  of  man ;  and  I  think  they  were 
never  before  so  prevalent  and  vital  as  they  are  to-day. 

But  look  at  it  ^in  another  way.  Take  the  elements  of 
religion  ;  it  is  not  one  thing  alone.  It  means  the  moving 
of  the  human  soul  rightly  toward  God,  toward  man,  and 
toward  duty.  He  who  is  using  his  whole  self  according  to 
laws  of  God  is  religious.  Some  men  think  that  devotion  is 
religion.  Yes,  devotion  is  religion ;  but  it  is  not  all  of  relig- 
ion. Here  is  a  tune  written  in  six  parts;  and  men  are 
wrangling  and  quarreling  about  it.  One  says  that  the  har- 
mony is  in  the  bass,  another  that  it  is  in  the  soprano,  an- 
other that  it  is  in  the  tenor,  and  another  that  it  is  in  the 
alto ;  but  I  say  that  it  is  in  all  the  six  parts.  Each  may,  in 
and  of  itself,  be  better  than  nothing;  but  it  requires  the 
whole  six  parts  to  make  what  was  meant  by  the  musical 
composer.  Some  men  say  that  love  is  religion.  Well,  love 
is,  certainly,  the  highest  element  of  it;  but  it  is  not  that 
alone.  Justice  is  religion ;  fidelity  is  religion  ;  hope  is  relig- 
ion ;  faith  is  religion ;  obedience  is  religion.  These  are  all 
part  and  parcel  of  religion.  Religion  is  as  much  as  the  total 
of  manhood ;  and  it  takes  in  every  element  of  it.  All  the 
elements  of  manhood,  in  their  right  place  and  action,  are 


WHAT  IS  RELIGION?  529 

constituent  parts  of  religion ;  but  no  one  of  them  alone  is 
religion.  It  takes  the  whole  manhood,  imbued  and  inspired 
of  God,  moving  right  both  heavenward  and  earthward,  to 
constitute  religion. 

Many  men  think  that  a  man  who  shudders  and  trembles 
with  a  sense  of  the  presence  of  the  Most  High,  who  is  so 
devout  that  he  lays  his  hand  on  his  mouth  and  his  mouth  in 
the  dust,  and  cries,  "  Unclean,  unclean  ;  God  be  merciful  to 
me  a  sinner,"  is  a  very  religious  man ;  but  that  depends 
upon  circumstances.  I  have  known  men  who  went  into  a 
mood  in  which  they  were  profoundly  struck  through  with 
veneration  when  under  religious  influences,  but  who  could  not 
resist  temptation  in  business,  and  would  cheat,  and  would 
get  the  best  of  a  bargain,  and  justify  themselves  by  their  love 
of  others.  They  said,  "I  love  my  neighbor  as  myself," — 
that  was  for  Sunday ;  and  they  also  said,  "  Every  man  for 
himself," — that  was  for  Monday,  and  the  other  week  days. 

But  you  find  men  who,  in  conference  meetings  and  church 
meetings,  or  when  the  bell  sounds,  or  when  the  organ  peals, 
have  reverent  feelings,  and  in  whom,  under  snch  circum- 
stances, worldly  feelings  do  subside.  They  go  to  church, 
and  when  they  come  to  the  church  door  they  take  off  their 
hat,  and  march  to  their  seat,  looking  neither  to  the  right 
nor  to  the  left,  and  bow  themselves  down,  and  go  through 
the  whole  religious  service,  and  rise,  and  go  out,  and  feel  that 
they  have  been  religious ;  and  they  see  boys  pouring  out  of 
the  church  on  the  other  side  of  the  street,  talking  and  laugh- 
ing, and  they  shudder  to  think  what  an  irreligious  and  god- 
less generation  of  children  is  growing  up.  They  have  been 
doing  their  religion  ;  and  it  is  ink-color ;  it  is  dark  and  som- 
ber. But  do  I  revile  it  ?  Do  I  say  it  is  incongruous  and 
inconsistent  with  Christian  hope  ?  In  its  place  it  is  as  much 
right  as  either  part  in  a  piece  of  music  is  right.  The  sub- 
bass  is  all  right  in  an  organ  ;  but  I  should  not  want  a  man  to 
play  on  a  thirty-two  foot  pipe  all  the  time  and  teil  me  that 
that  was  music. 

There  are  other  men  wno  think  that  religion  is  a  proper 
view  of  the  whole  scheme  of  Gospel  truth.  They  lift  their 
spectacles  up  from  their  sharp,  gray  eyes,  and  begin  at  the 


530  WHAT  IS  RELIGION? 

beginning,  and  lay  down  position  after  position,  and  squint 
along  the  line ;  and  if  it  lacks  a  thousandth  part  of  an  inch, 
they  think  there  is  heresy.  Orthodoxy  to  them  is  right  belief 
at  every  post  and  corner.  This  is  intellectual  religion.  But 
do  I  ridicule  it  ?  No,  not  in  its  place  and  position.  There 
is  no  man  that  is  a  man  who  does  not  think;  and  if  he 
thinks  he  must  connect  his  thoughts  together;  and  if  he 
thinks  about  religion,  his  thoughts  must  form  a  system ;  and 
provided  he  is  not  conceited,  and  does  not  think  that  he  is 
the  man,  and  that  wisdom  shall  die  with  him,  he  has  a  right 
to  his  system;  and  the  Arminian  thinks  his  way,  the 
Calvinist  his,  and  the  Arian  his.  They  have  their  schemes 
of  the  universe ;  but  the  trouble  is  that  they  are  almost  all 
pocket-schemes.  Men's  way  of  thinking  is  not  God's  way  of 
thinking.  "  As  the  heavens  are  higher  than  the  earth,  so 
are  my  thoughts  higher  than  your  thoughts,  saith  the  Lord." 
The  difficulty  with  our  systems  of  religion  is  that  they  are 
not  big  enough  to  comprehend  all  the  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence of  the  world.  They  are  provincial,  limited,  narrow ; 
and  if  you  make  them  dogmatical  and  despotic  they  are  cruel. 
Dogma  is  indispensable  to  religion,  but  it  must  be  in  its  place. 

There  comes  another  man.  He  is  not  a  reasoning  nor  a 
venerating  man.  He  is  one  who  believes  in  emotion.  He 
likes  a  joyful  hallelujah  which  well  nigh  takes  the  roof  off. 
Occasions  where  there  is  singing,  and  shouting,  and  seizing 
by  the  hand,  and  laughing,  and  being  happy,  and  making 
glad  in  religion — those  suit  him.  "  Ah  !  that  is  glory,  that 
is  glory  ; "  he  says.  But  do  I  revile  that  ?  No.  I  like  to  see 
it,  provided  a  man  does  not  say  that  that  is  the  only  thing 
in  the  universe.  I  say  that  in  due  measure  it  is  to  be  re- 
spected instead  of  ridiculed. 

Another  man  comes  along  and  says,  "  Oh,  the  beauty  of 
creation  !  Oh,  the  loveliness  of  virtue !  How  sweet  are 
these  sentiments  !"  Do  I  revile  men  of  taste  ?'  Oh  no,  I  do 
not  revile  them  except  when  they  attempt  to  despotize  over 
me,  and  say  to  me,  "  My  style  of  thinking  is  to  be  your 
style,  or  else  you  are  a  publican  and  sinner."  Taste,  in  its 
time  and  proportion,  is  one  element  of  religion.  Religion  ig 
the  whole  of  all  these  things. 


WHAT  IS  RELIGION t  531 

Then  comes  a  practical  man,  and  he  says,  "  You  talk 
about  your  metaphysics  and  emotions  and  sentiments ;  but 
what  I  believe  in  is  good  square  matter-of-fact  common-sense 
ideas.  Show  me  something  to  do,  and  I  will  do  it.  That  is 
what  I  call  being  a  Christian."  Well,  to  my  thinking,  he  is  a 
dead  man  who  has  no  thoughts  and  feelings  and  sentiments. 
You  can  grind  out,  with  Babbage's  calculating  machine,  re- 
sults about  as  good  as  these  pragmatical  men  produce. 
Matter-of-fact  things  are  good ;  but  they  are  infinitely  better 
where  they  are  accompanied  by  taste  and  reason  and  venera- 
tion and  beneficence  than  where  they  are  without  these  ac- 
companiments ;  for  the  whole  is  better  than  any  single 
element.  And  all  of  these  elements  may  be  abundantly  found. 

Look  at  the  ethical  feeling — that  is,  the  sense  of  duty  and 
fidelity  and  right.  See  how  strong  it  is,  the  world  over. 
Take  the  element  of  humanity.  Was  there  ever  a  time  when 
the  whole  world's  heart  throbbed  as  it  does  to-day  in  response 
to  calls  for  help  that  come  from  the  needy  ?  Let  Chicago  be 
burned,  and,  before  the  last  peal  of  the  alarm  bells  has 
sounded,  from  London  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  dollars  are  coming  in.  Let  there  be  famine  in  India,  and 
American  Christians  instantly  send  ships  thither  laden  with 
supplies.  Let  disease  sweep  New  Orleans,  and  every  village 
or  hamlet  in  New  England  takes  steps  for  its  relief.  And  do 
you  tell  me  that  humanity  is  growing  less  ?  It  never  was  so 
broad  and  high  and  deep  as  it  is  to-day. 

Take  the  element  of  domestic  virtue.  There  never  was 
a  time  when  the  household  lived  on  so  high  a  plane.  There 
never  was  a  time  when  "father"  seemed  so  venerable,  or 
when  "  mother  "  was  such  a  charm  to  bring  the  thought  of 
heaven  to  the  soul.  There  never  was  a  time  when  so  many 
men  were  homesick  for  home.  There  never  was  a  time  when 
so  many  looked  back  upon  the  family  in  which  they  were 
brought  up  as  a  Garden  of  Eden  from  which  they  have  been 
expelled  by  age  and  duty.  The  household  was  never  before 
so  much  a  power  as  it  is  now.  It  is  subject  to  assaults, 
open  or  covert,  but  it  will  dash  all  these  things  from  it. 
As  the  human  body  has  in  it  a  resiliency,  or  repellant  power, 
by  which  it  throws  off  morbific  influences  and  attacks,  so 


53S  WHAT  IS  RELIQIONt 

the  household  has  a  power  of  virtue  which  never  was  so 
radiant  and  so  irresistible  as  it  is  to-day.  When  the  foun- 
dations of  the  family  are  adamantine,  and  when  there  is 
a  crystal  dome  extending  over  it  through  which  men  see 
God  and  heaven,  tell  me  not  that  religion  is  in  danger.  The 
family  is  God's  primal  church ;  and  to-day  it  is  the  nearest 
like  the  divine  and  heavenly  state  of  all  things  that  we  have. 

Public  spirit,  which  is  a  form  of  beneficence,  was  never 
stronger  than  it  is  to-day.  It  is  growing  more  and  more  uni- 
versal. And  I  judge  of  the  preaching  of  a  place  by  the  pub- 
lic spirit  which  I  see  exhibited  there.  If  I  go  through  a 
village  and  see  that  the  town  pump  is  in  a  dilapidated  con- 
dition, and  the  fences  are  tumbling  down,  and  the  town 
house  is  a  rattlety-bang  affair,  taken  possession  of  more  by 
winds  and  rains  than  by  men,  and  that  the  churches  are 
poor,  and  the  almshouse  is  a  miserable  place,  and  the 
roads  are  stony,  and  that  there  are  no  bridges  but  rails 
with  a  few  clods  thrown  on  them, — I  say,  "  There  is  poor 
doctrine  preached  in  this  village."  For  any  true  preach- 
ing of  religion  will  make  men  public  spirited.  No  man  can 
be  preached  to  as  he  ought  to  be  in  regard  to  his  duty 
to  God  and  men  without  his  religion  having  a  reflex  influ- 
ence on  his  house,  his  barn,  the  public  highways,  every- 
thing that  belongs  to  him  in  common  with  his  fellow  men. 
"  Ye  are  brethren  "  is  a  part  of  the  Gospel.  Religion  is  not 
love  to  God  alone:  it  is  love  to  man  as  well.  Among  other 
things,  it  means  public  spirit — and  by  that  test  I  think  there 
is  not  a  good  gospel  preached  in  some  parts  of  New  Hamp- 
shire ! 

Democracy  in  its  true  sense  belongs  to  religion.  Religion 
extends  its  walls  about  everything  in  creation.  It  looks  upon 
all  men,  whether  they  be  ignorant  or  educated,  high  or  low. 
good  or  bad,  as  one  household.  It  has  that  spirit  which 
leads  a  man  to  extend  warm  quickening  sympathies  to  his 
fellow  men  in  proportion  as  they  need  them.  Religion,  where 
it  exists  in  its  highest  form  among  men,  draws  them  to  those 
who  are  bad  quicker  than  to  those  who  are  good,  that  they 
may  give  them  help  and  succor. 

This  spirit  is  spreading  everywhere ;  and  I  do  not  despair 


WHAT  IS  RELIGION  t  533 

of  seeing  the  time  when  in  even  heathen  nations  the  true 
spirit  of  reflected  Christianity  shall  have  its  influence,  and 
when  men  can  go  around  and  around  the  globe  and  find  in 
every  tribe  and  section — in  the  wilderness  and  everywhere — 
the  common  feeling  that  man  is  a  child  of  God,  and  goes 
back  to  God,  and  is  immortal. 

That  is  not  all.  I  ask  you  to  consider  what  religion  is 
according  to  the  definition  of  Paul : 

"  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness, 
goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance." 

A  man,  going  dowu  to  Boston,  hears  of  Cushing's  place. 
Everybody,  I  suppose,  who  has  been  to  Boston,  has  heard  oi 
that  place.  There  are  magnificent  flowers,  and  all  sorts  of 
fruits  there.  The  fruits  are  the  world's  wonder  for  variety 
and  lusciousness  and  perfectness.  This  man  drives  out  to 
Cushing's,  and  goes  around  the  place.  When  he  gets  there, 
the  first  thing  he  looks  at  is  the  fence  ;  and  he  says,  "  Well, 
this  place  is  not  what  it  is  cracked  up  to  be — look  at  that 
fence !  I  have  a  better  fence  than  that  about  my  lot  at 
home."  He  goes  into  the  grounds  and  looks  at  the  lawns, 
shaven  and  shorn,  and  he  says,  "I'd  give  more  for  my  old 
medder  with  timothy  hay  in  it  than  this  docked,  shaved 
lawn."  He  looks  at  the  house,  and  says,  "I  thought  it  would 
be  a  fine  castle,  but  it  is  only  a  house."  He  goes  into  the 
orchard  and  looks  at  the  fruit-trees,  and  says,  "  There  is  a 
great  deal  of  bad  bark  on  those  trees."  But  he  came  to  see 
the  fruit ;  and  what  has  the  fence,  or  the  lawn,  or  the  house, 
or  the  bark  on  the  trees  to  do  with  that  ?  The  way  to  judge 
of  the  value  of  the  orchard,  or  garden,  or  grapery,  or  hot- 
house is  to  try  the  fruit.  The  test  of  the  fruit  is  the  fruit 
itself.  If  the  apples,  and  the  pears,  and  the  plums,  and  the 
peaches,  and  the  grapes,  and  the  figs,  and  what  not,  are  good, 
that  is  enough.  If  they  are  large  and  ripe  and  luscious,  what 
more  can  he  ask  ?  I  do  not  care  whether  a  man  whitewashes 
or  blackwashes  his  fence,  or  whether  he  uses  guano  or  barn- 
yard manure,  or  what  his  mode  of  cultivation  may  be,  the 
question  is,  Does  he  get  good  fruit  ?  If  he  does,  his  method 
is  good. 

Now,  I  take  it  that  the  apostle  is  speaking  of  religion 


534  WHAT  IS  RELIGION t 

when  he  speaks  of  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit ;  and  the  fruit  of 
the  Spirit  is  what  ?  Orthodoxy  ?  Oh,  no.  Conscience  ? 
Not  a  bit  of  it.  One  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  is  love ;  and 
is  love  dead  ?  Does  it  no  longer  rock  the  cradle  ?  Does  it 
no  longer  sit  patiently  through  the  day  and  night  by  the  bed 
of  pain  and  sickness  ?  Does  it  weep  no  longer  for  the  out- 
cast wanderer  ?  Is  there  no  sacrifice  that  love  makes  ? 

Another  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  joy ;  and  is  joy  gone  ?  Is 
there  no  merriment  among  children  ?  Are  there  no  longer 
hours  of  conscious  fidelity  and  heroism  ?  Are  there  no  acts,  are 
there  no  developments,  which  imply  the  exercise  of  the  noblest 
parts  in  men  ?  Are  they  shaking  down  no  fragrant  dews  in 
the  soul  ?  Is  joy  like  a  worn-out  instrument  whose  strings 
are  broken  and  whose  body  is  smashed  ?  Is  joy  voiceless  and 
tuneless?  Was  the  world  ever  before  so  full  of  joy  aa 
to-day? 

Peace,  the  strangest  of  fruits — is  it  not  slowly  coming  to 
be  that  which  is  the  unison  of  all  other  qualities  with  bless- 
edness in  the  soul  ?  I  do  not  mean  that  peace  which  is  leth- 
argic and  sacrifices  nothing,  but  that  peace  which  comes  from 
the  excitement  of  all  parts  of  our  nature,  carrying  them 
above  the  ordinary  line  of  experience.  It  is  high  up  that  the 
most  perfect  peace  is.  There  are  places  in  the  nooks  and 
ravines  of  the  mountains  where  there  is  peace ;  but  they  who 
go  up  in  balloons  say  that  as  they  rise  above  the  earth  all 
sounds  die  away,  and  that  high  up  in  the  pure  ether  there  is 
perfect  silence.  And  so,  as  men  rise  through  the  experience 
and  trials  of  life,  they  find  that  high  up  there  is  a  realm  of 
peace.  Is  peace  dying  ? 

Some  tell  me  they  do  not  believe  in  religion  because 
of  the  way  that  men  act  in  Wall  street ;  because  they  see 
elders,  and  deacons,  and  ministers  even,  doing  wrong  things. 
Of  course  they  do  wrong.  They  would  not  be  in  the  human 
body  if  they  did  not.  But  go  and  see  what  mothers  bear  for 
sons.  Go  and  see,  in  miniature,  that  same  atoning  sacrifice 
which  Christ  fulfilled,  in  those  who  literally  give  their  life, 
living  it,  giving  it,  for  the  unworthy,  the  poor  and  the  needy. 
Do  you  tell  me  that  religion  is  dying  out  ?  It  blossoms  every- 
where. Every  household  is  full  of  it.  Every  village  is  filled 


WHAT  IS  RELIGION*  535 

with  it  Orthodoxy,  the  exact  statement  of  things,  may  be 
shattered ;  church  order  may  be  changed ;  but  never  will 
religion  die  out  until  the  human  soul  is  void  of  love,  joy, 
peace,  long-suffering,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  and  temper- 
ance. 

Ye,  then,  who  mourn  because  particular  modes  are  chang- 
ing, and  think  that  religion  is  dying  out,  look  deeper,  and 
pluck  up  hope  out  of  your  despair,  and  confidence  out  of 
your  fear.  And  to  you  that  think  religion  is  going  away 
because  of  science,  let  me  say  that  science  is  the  handmaid 
of  religion  ;  it  is  the  John  Baptist,  oftentimes,  that  clears  the 
way  for  true  religion.  By  religion  I  do  not  mean  outward 
things,  but  inward  states.  I  mean  perfected  manhood.  I 
mean  the  quickening  of  the  soul  by  the  beatific  influence  of 
the  divine  Spirit  in  truth,  and  love,  and  sympathy,  and  con- 
fidence, and  trust.  That  is  not  dying  out.  Not  until  the 
soul  of  man  is  quenched  can  religion  die  out.  Not  until  God 
ceases  to  be  God  can  religion  be  quenched  in  this  world.  It 
may  have  its  nights  and  days ;  it  may  have  its  winter  and 
summer ;  it  may  be  subject  to  the  great  laws  of  oscillation 
and  change;  but,  nevertheless,  the  word  of  God  standeth 
sure ;  its  foundations  are  immutable  ;  and  not  until  the  last 
generation  has  been  born  and  translated,  not  until  the  last 
tear  has  been  shed,  not  until  the  last  pulse  of  love  has 
throbbed,  not  until  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth 
appear,  will  religion  die  on  the  earth  or  lose  its  power  among 
men. 


636  WHAT  IS  RELIGION* 

PRAYER  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

WE  rejoice,  our  Father,  that  our  thoughts  are  lifted,  not  by  oiu 
wills  alone,  but  by  the  inspiration  of  God ;  for  we  cannot  discern  the 
things  that  are  spiritual  and  afar  off  save  by  divine  help.  Thou  that 
broodest  the  world,  and  dost  spread  abroad  thy  wings  and  it  is  night, 
and  let  thy  face  shine  and  it  is  day — thou  everywhere  the  beloved 
and  the  loving,  we  rejoice  in  thy  succor  and  inspiration  and  help; 
and  we  implore  thee,  this  morning,  not  because  thou  needest  im- 
ploration,  but  because  it  is  sweet  for  us  to  ask,  and  to  behold  that  the 
blessings  which  we  ask  are  given  graciously.  We  draw  near  to  thee 
as  our  children  to  us,  that  draw  near  with  their  helplessness  and  with 
their  wants.  We  desire  to  draw  near  to  thee  with  their  confiding 
faith,  and  their  love  unaffected.  We  call  thee  our  Father.  Thou 
hast  made  thyself  known  to  us  as  such.  We  do  not  discern  in  thee 
dreadful  power,  nor  do  we  discern  in  thee  the  scowl  of  oppression 
and  of  cruelty.  Our  thought  of  thee  is  of  all  truth,  of  all  justice 
and  equity,  of  all  gentleness  and  sympathy,  of  all  love  and  helpful- 
ness. What  our  father  and  our  mother  were  to  us,  that  art  thou  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand  fold.  We  grope  as  in  the  dark.  We 
are  like  tapers  here.  Thou  art  the  sun  rolling  in  the  immensity  of 
thy  being,  and  giving  light  and  warmth  to  every  one.  We  are  afraid, 
O  Lord  our  God,  often,  to  trust  in  thee,  fearing  to  exhaust  thy  mercy, 
which  is  ineffable,  universal  and  inexhaustible.  Thou  dost  pity  us, 
knowing  our  frame,  and  remembering  that  we  are  dust.  Thou  dost 
succor  the  ill-deserving,  causing  thy  sun  to  rise  upon  the  good  and  the 
bad,  sending  rain  upon  the  just  and  upon  the  unjust,  and  filling  the 
earth  with  thy  bounty  so  that  all  creatures,  not  excepting  those  that 
are  seemingly  most  worthless,  are  still  cared  for.  The  insect  of  the 
air,  the  worm  of  the  earth,  the  fish  of  the  sea,  the  cattle  upon  a  thou- 
sand hills,  all  things  that  are  created,  are  objects  of  thy  thought. 
Thou  dost  watch  over  them ;  and  how  much  more  is  man,  made  in 
thine  image,  destined  to  draw  near  unto  thee,  and  to  become  a  son 
of  God  in  the  heavenly  laud,  perfected.  In  thee  is  our  hope.  Not 
in  ourselves,  but  in  the  greatness,  in  the  mercy,  in  the  grace,  and  in 
the  everlasting  bounty  of  our  God,  we  find  inspiration  of  hope  and 
of  trust;  for  thou  dost  shelter  those  that  know  how  to  come  under- 
neath the  shadow  of  thy  wings.  Thou  art  the  tower  to  which,  when 
hard  pressed,  thy  people  run,  and  are  saved  from  their  pursuers. 
Thou  art  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land ;  and  blessed 
are  they  that  know  how  to  sit  down  in  the  shade  in  the  midst  of  sur- 
rounding heat.  We  desire,  O  Lord  our  God,  that  thy  name  may 
shine  more  clearly,  and  that  thy  heart  may  be  more  aboundingly 
known  among  thine  own  people,  and  that  those  who  are  children 
may  become  witnesses  more  worthy  of  their  parentage,  and  have 
more  of  joy  and  strength  and  faith  and  patience  ministered  unto 
them  through  the  might  and  goodness  of  their  God. 

Vouchsafe  thy  blessing  to  rest  upon  us  now,  in  the  hour  in  which 
we  are  gathered  together.  How  many  of  us!  From  what  diverse 
ways!  From  what  different  experiences  1  And  yet  all  united  to- 
gether by  common  infirmity,  by  commor  sinfulness,  by  a  conimoo 


WHAT  IS  RELIGION  T  537 

need  of  forgiveness,  and  by  a  common  necessity  for  that  love  which 
comes  only  from  the  soul  of  God. 

Vouchsafe  to  each  one  in  thy  presence,  this  morning,  that  which 
each  one  needs.  Search  the  hidden  grief  of  every  one,  and  either 
heal  it  or  give  grace  to  bear  it.  Be  with  those  that  are  near  to  thee 
in  supplication  day  by  day,  and  that  will  not  let  thee  go  without  the 
blessing  longed  for,  more  precious  to  them  than  life  itself.  Hear 
their  prayers,  and  answer  them. 

Those  that  carry  sorrows,  and  wear  them  as  a  garment  all  the 
year  round,  and  are  acquainted  with  grief — vouchsafe  thy  presence, 
likewise,  this  day  to  them ;  and  may  they  hear  inwardly  their  name 
called  of  thee,  even  as  Mary,  in  the  midst  of  her  tears,  was  called  by 
her  name  by  our  Lord  and  Saviour. 

And  we  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  strengthen  the  weak,  and 
succor  those  that  are  in  peril  through  overmastering  temptations. 
Deliver  from  evil  those  that  are  beginning  to  be  drawn  into  its  whirl. 
We  beseech  thee  that  thou  wilt  look  piteously  upon  every  want  and 
every  necessity.  May  those  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness 
more  and  more  be  fed  and  filled.  May  those  that  are  drawing  near 
to  the  confines  of  life  rejoice  and  look  away  to  that  eternal  youth 
beyond,  which  waits  for  them.  May  those  that  are  in  the  midst  of 
life  fulfill  their  duties  with  a  right  manly  sincerity  and  earnestness. 
May  those  that  are  young  grow  up  uncontaminated.  With  truth 
and  honor  and  manhood  undefiled  may  they  enter  into  the  places  of 
those  that  are  departing,  and  do  better  than  their  fathers  have  done. 
We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  grant  thy  blessing  to  rest  upon  all 
our  friends  that  are  separated  from  us.  Go  with  us  homeward.  Lead 
us  to  our  children  and  our  children's  children,  to  our  companions,  to 
our  parents,  to  our  brothers  and  sisters,  far  away  across  the  seas, 
in  the  wilderness,  everywhere;  and  unite  us  in  that  love  which 
is  upon  them  and  upon  us  at  the  same  time. 

We  beseech  thee  that  thou  wilt  grant  thy  blessing  to  rest  upon 
this  house  and  household;  upon  those  that  abide  here  and  minister 
to  our  comfort;  upon  all  that  are  gathered  here  to  spend  the  days  of 
vacation ;  and  grant  that  this  house  may  be  filled  with  peace  and 
joy.  May  everything  that  is  benign  and  pure  rule  over  whatever 
is  selfish  and  proud  and  hateful.  May  the  spirit  of  joy  and  of 
gladness,  springing  from  sincerity  and  purity,  prevail  here  from 
hour  to  hour,  so  that  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  shall  dwell  upon  this 
place  forever  more. 

We  commend  ourselves  to  thee.  Take  care  of  us  while  we  live. 
Mark  our  years  out  for  us.  Not  for  our  asking  give  us  more  or  less, 
but  according  to  thy  wisdom.  Think  for  us,  dear  Lord ;  ordain  for 
us ;  and  then  make  us  able  to  say,  in  every  emergency,  The  will  of 
the  Lord  be  done ;  till  we  have  passed  the  vail,  and  the  shadows  flee, 
and  the  morning  comes.  Arise,  O  Sun  of  Righteousness,  with  healing 
in  thy  beams,  and  bring  us  where  there  is  no  night  and  no  more  sor- 
row forever. 


53$  WHAT  IS  RELIGION t 

PRAYER  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

QUICKEN  our  faith,  Almighty  God.  O  thou  Saviour  that  hast 
loved  us,  aud  loved  us  in  our  weakness  and  want,  and  art  loving  u* 
into  strength,  and  into  truth,  aud  into  justice,  and  into  patience,  and 
into  godliness,  love  us  still.  This  is  a  wonder  that  we  never  could 
interpret  if  we  had  not  been  parents  ourselves.  See  how  we  love 
our  children,  though  they  be  erring.  Others  do  not  love  them  in 
their  weakness,  but  we  do ;  and  thou  lookest  out  of  a  larger  heart 
of  the  same  kind  as  ours.  But  while  thou  knowest  how  to  teach  the 
lore  of  love,  thou  knowest  how  to  lay  upon  men  responsibility :  for 
whom  thou  lovest  thou  cbastenest,  and  scourgest  every  son  whom 
thou  receivest.  May  we,  then,  have  more  and  more  confidence  in 
thee,  and  accept  the  duties  and  discipline  of  life  with  more  gratitude 
and  cheerfulness  and  hopefulness,  looking  forward ;  for  we  are  not 
to  stay  a  great  while  here.  We  are  in  tabernacles.  The  city  that 
hath  foundations  is  not  far  off.  We  hear  the  voices  of  its  inhabitants. 
From  off  the  walls  come  wafted  to  us,  now  arid  then,  the  word  of 
cheer,  Come;  and  be  that  hears  repeats  it,  and  says  Come;  and 
whosoever  will,  let  him  come.  And  all  are  coming.  All  find  their 
way  back  toward  the  Sun  of  Righteousness. 

Grant,  O  Lord  our  God,  that  we  may  have  more  faith  in  thee, 
more  hope  for  the  world,  more  sympathy  for  the  race,  more  kindness 
toward  each  other,  so  that  we  may  stand  holding  each  other  up, 
pitying  each  other's  faults,  helping  those  that  are  cast  down,  and 
doing  most  for  those  that  are  most  needy.  May  we  seek  out  those 
that  are  in  sorrows,  and  minister  to  them.  Make  us  like  thyself,  thou 
that  didst  give  thy  life,  laying  it  down  and  taking  it  up  again,  and 
that  art  forever,  in  heavenly  places,  carrying  thy  life,  not  for  thy- 
self, but  for  others ;  and  being  made  like  thee,  may  we  be  called  sons 
of  God,  and  find  rest  with  thee  in  the  heavenly  land.  We  ask  it 
through  riches  of  grace  in  Christ  Jesus.  Amen. 


CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY. 


"  For  as  we  have  many  members  in  one  body,  and  all  members 
have  not  the  same  office ;  so  we,  being  many,  are  one  body  in  Christ, 
and  every  one  members  one  of  another."— ROM.  xii.  4,  5. 


Is  this  sympathetic  unity  a  peculiarity  of  church  life  ? 
Are  these  words  meant  to  explain  simply  that  when  a  great 
number  of  persons  are  joined  in  a  church  connection  they 
are  in  a  spiritual,  sympathetic  unity  ?  Yes,  it  means  that,  on 
the  way  to  something  a  great  deal  larger  than  that.  It  is  the 
declaration — and  the  spirit  of  it  runs  through  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  colors  every  part  of  it — it  is  the  declaration  that 
the  ideal  condition  of  the  human  race  is  one  in  which  man- 
kind are  knit  together  by  a  sympathy  which  makes  one  man 
the  brother  of  another  man,  the  world  over ;  and  that  too, 
as  is  explained  by  the  Apostle  Paul  in  1st  Corinthians,  the 
12th  chapter,  without  regard  to  nationality,  or  sect,  or  con- 
dition in  life — whether  bond  or  free,  Jew  or  Gentile,  in  the 
church  or  out  of  the  church.  The  ideal  condition,  or  that 
condition  toward  which  God's  providence  is  steadily  conduct- 
ing the  races  of  the  world,  and  which  they  will  reach  when 
they  shall  be  ripe,  is  a  condition  in  which  every  man  shall 
feel  that  every  other  man  is  a  part  of  himself ;  or,  in  other 
words,  in  which  every  man  shall  feel  as  a  parent  feels  in  the 
family,  that  every  other  person  is  in  one  sense  a  part  of  him- 
self. Mankind  will  yet  come — they  are  not  in  a  hurry,  but 
they  will  come — to  that  condition  in  which  nothing  will  be  so 

Preached  at  the  TWIN  MOUNTAIN  HOUSE,  White  Mountains,  N.  H.,  Sunday  morn- 
ing, August  90th,  1874.  Lesson:  Rom.  xii.  Hymns  (Plymouth  Collection);  No*.  102, 
SB. 


542  CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY. 

near  to  the  heart  of  man  as  man,  without  regard  to  the  fack 
of  relationship,  kindred,  interest,  or  neighborhood.  The  time 
is  approaching  when  the  mere  fact  that  one  is  a  human  being 
will  open  and  kindle  the  hearts  of  men  toward  him  in  all 
sympathy  and  kindness. 

It  is  of  this  unity,  which  springs  from  the  Gospel — the 
sympathetic  unity  of  soul  with  soul — that  I  shall  speak  this 
morning. 

I  have  said  that  this  was  not  a  matter  of  the  artificial  life 
of  the  church  ;  and  let  me  say  that  I  look  upon  the  church, 
not  as  a  substitute  for  anything,  but  simply  as  an  instru- 
ment, as  an  educating  institution,  by  which  God  attempts  to 
diffuse  the  light  and  knowledge  of  true  manhood  throughout 
the  race.  It  is  a  subservient  institution.  It  is  not  itself  a 
primary  thing.  It  is  secondary.  In  the  work  of  ages  the 
church  is  full  of  grandeur  and  excellence ;  yet  it  is  simply 
subordinate,  doing  the  Master's  will. 

God's  heart  and  God's  purpose  are  the  salvation  of  the 
world  ;  and  it  is  the  deliverance,  the  elevation  of  every  living 
human  being  on  the  globe,. that  lies  before  the  divine  mind  as 
the  reason  and  motive  of  administration  through  the  periods 
of  time  ;  and  the  church  bears  relation  to  this  great  end  just 
as  the  common  school  bears  relation  to  the  prevalence  of 
intelligence  through  the  community.  We  believe  in  schools 
and  academies ;  but  we  value  the  community  more  than 
we  do  even  them.  Their  worth  lies  in  the  fact  that  they 
are  blessing  the  whole  community.  They  are  not  in  them- 
selves sacred ;  they  are  not  valuable  except  for  such  worthy 
objects  as  they  may  serve ;  they  are  good  lor  what  they  do  : 
and  the  church  is  good  for  only  that  which  it  accomplishes. 
What  is  greater  than  any  church  is  that  for  which  the  church 
was  created — namely,  universal  mankind. 

We  are  therefore  to  suppose,  not  that  God  is  working  for 
the  Jew  or  for  the  Gentile,  for  the  Asiatic  or  for  the  African, 
for  the  European  or  for  the  American,  but  for  all  of  them. 

We  are  not  to  suppose  that  the  divine  providence  is 
watching  alone  over  good  people,  virtuous  people,  healthy 
people ;  it  watches  over  all  alike.  It  makes  the  sun  to  rise 
on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sends  rain  on  the  just  and 


CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY.  543 

on  the  unjust.  The  divine  purposes  have  respect  to  every 
one,  everywhere,  without  regard  to  nationality  or  condition. 

Such  is  the  ideal  state.  It  is  one  toward  which  the  feel- 
ings of  sympathy,  of  benevolence,  and  of  love,  man  for  man, 
are  perpetually  tending. 

So,  when  we  speak  of  the  unity  which  all  mankind  are 
seeking,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  form  a  just  opinion  respect- 
ing it  unless  we  take  into  consideration  this  internal  unity. 
Everybody  wants  unity  in  the  churches,  everybody  is  striving 
to  bring  them  together ;  and  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in 
uniting  them  outwardly  if  that  were  enough ;  but  what 
would  be  the  advantage  of  a  mere  external  unity  of  the 
churches  ? 

What  advantage  would  it  be  in  a  village  if  all  the  inhabi- 
tants should  say,  "  The  citizens  of  this  village  should  be 
perfectly  united  ;  and,  therefore,  let  us  move  our  houses  up 
so  that  they  will  touch  each  other.  Moreover,  let  all  the  peo- 
ple of  this  town  have  the  one  name,  Adams.  Let  them  all 
call  themselves,  and  be  called,  by  that  name.  Besides,  let  us 
all  have  breakfast  and  dinner  and  supper  at  the  same  hour 
and  minute,  at  the  stroke  of  the  bell."  They  might  secure 
unity  in  these  outward  things,  so  as  to  be  able  to  say,  "  There 
is  not  such  a  united  village  in  the  world  as  we  are ; "  but 
what  would  be  the  advantage  of  mere  external  unity  in  a  vil- 
lage? Suppose  every  village  in  the  land  should  march  in 
such  a  unity,  as  soldiers  march  on  a  parade,  would  they  be 
any  better  or  happier  ?  Physical,  material  unity  may  natter 
pride,  perhaps,  and  give  argument  for  boasting ;  but  it  will 
not  raise  a  man  one  step  in  the  scale  of  intelligence,  or  make 
him  kinder,  or  destroy  his  prejudices.  It  will  not  make  the 
cruel  man  lenient,  nor  the  impatient  man  long-suffering,  nor 
the  despotic  man  merciful.  It  will  do  no  good. 

But  the  churches  have  been  calling  to  each  other  for 
unity.  The  Presbyterian  church  is  going  to  have  one  church 
throughout  the  world  when  the  kingdom  of  Christ  comes ; 
and  that  one  church  is  going  to  be  a  Presbyterian  church. 
The  Episcopalian  church  is  going  to  have  one  great  church  ; 
and  that  great  church  is  going  to  eat  up  all  the  little 
churches ;  and  it  is  going  to  be  an  Episcopal  church.  The 


544  CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY. 

same  is  true  of  the  Baptist  and  Methodist  chnrches.  But 
the  Congregation alists  believe  in  none  of  these  hierarchies ; 
they  believe  that  each  of  them  has  some  elements  of  truth, 
and  that  when  the  millennium  comes,  that  which  is  good  in  all 
of  them  will  be  gathered  up  and  brought  together  ;  and  this 
means  that  all  Christendom  is  going  to  be  Congregational ! 

But  the  church  a  man  is  in  is  much  like  the  clothes  he 
wears,  provided  he  is  fitted.  I  wear  black,  and  some  of 
you  wear  blue.  Some  of  you  wear  short  coats,  and  some 
long.  Some  wear  one  kind  of  hat,  and  some  another.  It  is 
not  the  hat,  not  the  coat,  nor  anything  of  the  kind,  that  we 
think  about  in  judging  of  a  man's  character ;  and  the  fact 
that  there  are  different  denominations  or  sects  is  of  little 
account  if  only  they  behave  themselves,  and  do  not  quarrel, 
and  are  peaceable,  and  are  not  arrogant,  and  do  not  pretend 
that  they  are  the  one  people  who  know  God's  secrets,  and  do 
not  claim  to  be  ordained  to  rule  over  their  fellow-men,  and 
do  not  sit  on  their  peculiar  throne  of  creed  or  church  and 
say  to  all  others,  "  Bow  down  to  us  when  you  hear  our  sack- 
but  and  psaltery,  or  we  will  burn  you  up."  The  trouble  is, 
not  that  there  are  so  many  sects,  but  that  they  are  often 
weak  in  that  which  is  good,  and  strong  in  that  which  is  bad. 

It  is  not,  therefore,  organic  unity,  nor  unity  of  belief 
exactly,  that  we  are  seeking.  I  never  saw  a  man  who  was 
large  enough  to  report  the  whole  truth  in  respect  to  anything 
which  he  looked  at.  It  has  not  been  considered  safe,  I 
think,  in  heaven,  where  the  manufactory  of  men  is,  to  put 
everything  in  everybody.  The  result  is,  that  one  man  carries 
so  much,  another  man  so  much,  and  another  man  so  much. 
Why,  it  takes  about  twenty  men  to  make  one  sound  man. 
One  man  is  hopeful  and  impetuous ;  another  is  cautious  and 
slow ;  and  the  two  put  together  would  make  a  much  more 
evenly  balanced  man  than  either  of  them  is  separately.  One 
man  is  reflective  ;  another  is  perceptive  ;  and  the  two  united 
would  make  a  better  man  than  either  of  them  alone.  One 
man  looks  at  things  as  an  enthusiast ;  another  sees  things 
in  a  matter-of-fact  light ;  and  if  the  two  were  put  together 
they  would  temper  each  other.  And  when  fifteen  or  twenty 
men  come  together,  and  accept  the  truth  as  it  is  seen  by  all 


CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY.  545 

of  them  combined,  they  have  a  far  more  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  it  than  they  would  have  if  they  only  saw  it 
from  their  individual  standpoints.  When  each  one  has 
made  his  statement  of  it,  and  infused  into  it  all  the  elements 
that  are  in  him,  they  will  be  nearer  to  a  full  presentation  of 
it  than  any  one  of  them  could  come  simply  by  his  under- 
standing of  it. 

Men  want  unity  of  belief ;  but  I  would  like  to  know  how 
they  are  going  to  have  it  so  long  as  they  are  made  to  differ  as 
they  do  now.  For  instance,  here  is  a  man  of  enormous  self- 
esteem.  Firmness  stands  like  an  adamantine  column  in  his 
disposition.  He  sees  everything  in  the  light  of  duty  and  law. 
He  says,  "It  is  the  business  of  men  to  obey  the  law  ;"  and 
he  sympathizes  with  the  magistrate.  Says  he,  "If  men 
have  sinned  they  ought  to  be  punished ;  the  law  was  made  to 
punish  sinners  " — and  he  would  like  to  be  the  man  to  carry 
it  out.  He  is,  every  particle  of  him,  in  sympathy  with  gov- 
ernment and  law. 

Take  another  man.  He  has  enormous  benevolence ;  he 
has  not  much  self-esteem ;  and  he  sympathizes  with  men 
instead  of  laws.  He  sees  everything  in  its  relations  to  the 
poor  and  suffering  and  needy. 

One  of  these  men  will  say,  "The  law  is  broken,  and 
penalty  must  follow."  The  other  will  say,  "Oh,  poor  trans- 
gressors !  what  will  become  of  them  ?" 

How  are  you  going  to  make  men  who  are  organized  so 
differently  read  the  Bible  and  see  everything  alike  ?  When 
you  read  the  Bible  you  will  see  one  thing,  and  when  another 
reads  the  Bible  he  will  see  another  thing,  owing  to  the  differ- 
ences of  your  organizations. 

If  you  mix  on  a  plate  iron  filings,  pieces  of  flint,  a  little 
Indian  meal,  and  a  little  flour,  and  take  a  magnet,  and  draw 
it  through,  it  will  not  touch  the  meal  nor  the  flour  nor  the 
flint,  but  it  will  pick  up  all  the  iron  filings. 

Now,  men  are  magnets,  and  if  you  draw  them  through 
the  Bible  they  will  catch  the  things  which  they  are  sensitive 
to,  while  they  will  pass  by  the  things  which  they  are  not 
sensitive  to.  Proud,  domineering  men  will  catch  the  ele- 
ments which  tend  toward  government.  Kind,  generous, 


546  CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY. 

democratic  people  will  catch  the  elements  that  tend  toward 
kindness  and  generosity  and  democracy.  Men  who  are  char- 
acterized by  taste  will  catch  the  elements  of  taste.  Those  of 
imagination  will  catch  poetic  elements.  Each  one  will  catch 
those  elements  which  are  peculiar  to  himself. 

How,  then,  are  you  going  to  take  men  as  they  are  made, 
and  make  them  believe  alike  ?  Some  persons  are  so  dry  that 
you  might  soak  them  in  a  joke  for  a  month,  and  it  would  not 
go  through  their  skin.  No  explanation  would  suffice  to  make 
them  understand  it.  They  must  accept  it  by  faith  if  they 
accept  it  at  all  And  yet,  there  are  other  persons  who  are  so 
sensitive  to  everything  that  is  humorous  or  ludicrous  that 
probably  there  is  not  a  thing  on  earth  that  does  not,  first  or 
last,  suggest  something  funny  to  them.  How  are  you  going 
to  take  such  minds,  and  make  them  look  along  the  track  of 
truth  and  see  alike  ?  They  are  made  differently,  and  it  is 
not  without  a  purpose.  For  variety — organized  variety — is 
strength.  A  community  is  strong  by  the  differences  and  not 
by  the  liknesses  that  exist  in  it. 

Suppose  every  man  in  a  town  were  a  blacksmith,  and 
nothing  else  !  Fortunately  it  is  never  so.  Among  the  people 
in  a  town,  some  are  tinners,  some  are  hatters,  some  are 
weavers,  some  are  carpenters,  some  are  painters,  some  are 
merchants,  and  some  are  bankers.  The  town  is  rich  by  the 
variety  of  its  trades  and  callings. 

Now,  in  beliefs  there  are  certain  great  stable,  funda- 
mental facts  which  nobody  doubts  ;  as,  for  instance,  that  of 
sunrise  or  sunset.  "We  all  believe  in  the  revolution  of  the 
globe.  All  men  agree  in  regard  to  certain  fixed  truths  in 
mathematics.  There  is  no  great  schism  in  the  matter  of 
arithmetic ;  everybody  acknowledges  that  two  and  two 
make  four.  But  when  you  come  to  questions  which  involve 
feeling,  probably  no  two  persons  agree  at  all.  If  you  could 
sharply  look  in  and  see  just  how  the  same  proposition  strikes 
two  persons,  you  would  probably  find  that  if  it  was  a  proposi- 
tion where  emotion  was  concerned  they  would  not  agree.  It 
is  colored  in  one,  perhaps,  by  imagination,  which  is  predom- 
inant in  him,  and  in  the  other  by  a  predominating  reflective 
reason.  One  person  is  cautious  and  hesitant,  and  another  is 


CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY.  547 

headlong  and  venturesome,  and  these  facts  make  it  impossible 
for  them  to  view  the  same  truth  in  tho  same  light.  One 
man  is  remarkable  for  coolness,  and  another  for  intensity  of 
feeling ;  and  they  will  differ  in  their  impressions  of  a  truth 
according  to  their  individualisms. 

These  things  being  so,  how  preposterous  it  is  for  any 
church  to  undertake  to  give  a  solution  of  the  nature  of  God, 
which  involves  every  conceivable  question  of  human  disposi- 
tion !  We  can  know  God  only  so  far  as  we  have  sparks  of 
him  in  ourselves.  To  delineate  the  whole  history  of  divine 
providence  for  thousands  of  years;  to  explain  the  various 
questions  of  moral  government  which  aiise  ;  to  determine  the 
various  methods  and  doctrines  of  responsibility  and  penalty 
and  reward  ;  to  unfold  the  whole  theory  of  the  human  mind  ; 
to  undertake  encyclopediacal  knowledge,  running  through  the 
whole  career  of  the  race — how  shall  this  be  done  so  that 
everybody  shall  see  everything  just  exactly  alike  ?  It  is  abso- 
lutely impossible.  God  laughs  when  he  sees  fool  Man  trying 
to  do  it.  It  is  against  nature.  So,  all  the  strifes  and  quar- 
rels of  the  different  sects,  to  bring  everybody  to  see  things 
just  as  they  see  them,  are  waste  work.  It  never  will  be  done. 

Well,  as  you  cannot  have  external  and  organic  unity,  nor 
an  exact  unity  of  beliefs,  from  the  very  structure  of  the 
human  mind,  there  seems  to  be  but  one  other  kind  of  unity 
that  you  can  come  to  ;  and  that  is  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in 
the  bond  of  perfectness,  or  sympathetic  unity. 

Come,  go  with  me  into  a  house  where  there  is  father, 
where  there  is  mother,  where  there  are  eight  children,  where 
there  are  two  servants,  and  where  there  are  three  or  four 
friends.  They  are  all  of  one  church  ;  they  are  all  of  one 
business  ;  they  all  live  under  one  roof ;  they  all  either  are  of 
one  name,  or  are  very  nearly  associated  in  name ;  and  you 
say,  "They  are  at  perfect  unity."  No,  they  are  not;  they 
quarrel  l&e  cats  and  dogs.  It  is  an  unhappy  household. 
They  have  all  the  unity  that  the  church  is  striving  after ; 
but  it  does  them  no  good. 

Go  with  me  into  another  house.  There  are  father  and 
mother,  and  eight  children,  and  two  or  three  friends ;  and 
they  are  sweet-tempered,  genial  and  kind ;  but  they  belong 


548  CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY. 

to  very  different  churches.  They  are  gathered  together  from 
various  quarters ;  but  they  all  happen  to  be  alike  in  loving 
each  other.  They  think  differently  and  believe  differently, 
but  that  does  not  prevent  their  being  united.  Difference  is 
perfectly  compatible  with  unity.  For,  are  there  not  four 
parts  to  a  good  tune  ?  and  do  not  all  these  parts  help  each 
other  ?  Differences  are  only  methods  of  unity,  provided  they 
are  concordant. 

In  the  great  family  here  at  this  [Twin  Mountain]  house 
there  is  more  unity  to-day  than  there  is  at  large  in  any 
church  or  sect  in  Christendom.  You  have  come  together 
from  every  direction;  there. are  hardly  any  two  of  you  of 
the  same  name ;  you  are  crowded  into  this  room  under  cir- 
cumstances of  very  great  inconvenience ;  and  yet  you  are 
polite  one  to  another.  You  are  willing  that  all  others 
should  have  seats  ( — after  you  are  provided  for  !)  There  is  no 
strife  here.  You  are  harmonious.  You  wish  well  to  each 
other.  You  are  even  kindly  disposed  to  believe  what  I  say. 
And  yet  you  are  from  different  churches.  You  belong  to 
sects  of  almost  every  name  ;  but  still,  there  is  a  genial,  kind 
sympathy  existing  between  you.  In  short,  you  are  gentlemen 
and  ladies — for  the  time  being  !  Everything  moves  in 
unison.  And  I  will  venture  to  say  that  there  is  not  a  room 
in  this  house  where  there  will  not  be  greater  happiness 
after  this  service.  I  will  venture  to  say  that  you  will  feel 
kinder  to  each  other,  and  nearer  to  each  other,  and  more 
helpful*  cf  each  other,  during  this  week  for  the  experience  of 
this  morning ;  it  is  the  natural  result  of  a  season  of  united 
feelings.  And  I  ask  you  if  such  unity  is  not  the  best  kind. 
I  ask  you  if  inward,  sympathetic,  benevolent  unity  is  not  the 
unity  that  does  good. 

This,  then,  is  the  dominant  Christian  idea  of  oneness — 
namely,  unity  of  the  heart.  A  man  who  is  royally  endowed 
with  bodily  and  mental  gifts,  and  who  holds  himself  in  such 
a  sweet  alliance  with  every  human  being  that  he  carries  him- 
self genially  and  helpfully  toward  all,  is  a  true  Christian.  Of 
course  such  a  man  carries  himself  so  toward  those  that  ho 
loves  as  his  own  ;  but  let  a  man  who  is  blessed  with  a  supe- 
rior intellect,  with  rare  physical  endowments,  and  with  cir- 


CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY.  549 

cumstances  favorable  to  their  development  and  use,  carry 
himself  in  a  spirit  of  kindness  and  gentleness  toward  the 
poorest,  the  lowest  and  the  meanest,  and  he  represents  the 
ideal  of  Christian  manhood.  When  a  man  comes  to  that  high 
state  he  is  Christ's,  not  only,  but  he  exhibits  Christ  to  men. 
When  the  church  comes  to  that  state  it  instantly  becomes  the 
true  catholic  church — that  is  to  say,  it  becomes  the  church 
which  is  going  to  take  possession  of  the  world — the  church 
of  the  heart,  the  church  of  sympathy,  the  church  of  benevo- 
lence, the  church  of  love. 

By  this  spirit  of  sympathy  one  with  another,  I  remark 
first,  all  hatreds,  and  all  injurious  conduct  under  different 
names  of  pretension,  are  forbidden.  We  have  no  right  to  in- 
flict pain  except  as  a  physician  administers  bitter  medicines. 
We  have  no  right  to  make  men  suffer  except  as  a  surgeon  am- 
putates a  limb.  We  have  no  right  to  resort  to  penalties  ex- 
cept as  the  schoolmaster  punishes  his  pupils.  We  may  inflict 
pain  and  cause  suffering  and  resort  to  penalties  so  far  as  they 
are  necessary  to  prevent  the  repetition  of  evil  in  an  indivi- 
dual, or  to  prevent  others  from  experiencing  them,  under 
which  circumstances  they  are  not  cruel.  No  human  being 
has  a  right  to  cause  any  form  of  injury  except  for  a  benevo- 
lent purpose.  The  doctrines  that  teach  that  God's  admin- 
istration in  the  world  is  one  of  vengeance,  and  that  it  is 
continued  for  no  other  reason  than  because  God  chooses 
to  perpetuate  it,  make  God  a  demon,  and  not  a  Father. 
All  pains  and  penalties  are  to  be  beneficent,  and  they  are 
to  be  administered  beneficently.  A  judge  has  no  right  to 
judge  a  man  with  a  cold,  un sympathizing  heart.  A  father 
has  no  right  to  punish  a  child  with  an  unfeeling,  angry 
spirit.  No  man  has  a  right  to  mulct  his  neighbor,  or  inflict 
suffering  upon  him  in  any  way,  except  for  his  good.  No 
man  knows  what  justice  is  who  does  not  know  what  love 
is.  There  is  no  justice  except  the  equity  that  moves  under 
the  influence  of  love.  This  is  the  Christian  doctrine.  All 
other  doctrines  are  anti-Christian. 

Secondly,  this  spirit  of  universal  sympathy,  this  spirit  of 
brotherhood  between  man  and  man,  forbids  envy  and  jealousy 
of  every  kind.  You  perhaps  do  not  believe  that  there  are  such 


550  VtLltlSTfAN  SXMl'ATHY. 

things  as  envy  and  jealousy ;  but  if  these  qualities  could  only 
squeak  like  unoiled  hinges,  there  would  be  such  a  noise  in 
every  community  that  you  would  think  Bedlam  had  been  let 
loose.  Envies  and  jealousies  do  not  generally  go  out  except 
in  masquerade.  They  put  on  various  masks  and  disguises  of 
society — philosophic  statements  and  the  like ;  but  back  of 
these  all  their  hateful  features  are  to  be  seen.  The  commu- 
nity is  full  of  persons  who  are  unhappy  because  other  persons 
are  better  off  than  they.  One  man  gets  what  another  man 
coveted ;  and  the  latter  says,  "  There  !  he  has  got  the  prop- 
erty that  is  mine— that  is,  that  I  wanted."  The  rich  and  the 
poor  look  with  jealousy  upon  each  other.  The  poor  are  angry 
because  the  rich  get  so  much  while  they  get  so  little  ;  and 
the  rich  are  angry  because  the  poor  are  in  the  way  of  their 
getting  more.  Competitors  in  politics  or  merchandise  look 
at  each  other  with  the  lower  and  smaller  forms  of  petty  envy 
and  jealousy. 

But,  the  word  of  God  says,  "  In  honor  preferring  one 
another."  It  enjoins  upon  us  the  duty  of  giving  the  prefer- 
ence to  others.  Does  anybody  really  do  this  ?  Yes  !  I  should 
like  to  know  if  the  mother,  when  she  sits  down  to  the  table 
with  her  children,  picks  out  the  best  things,  and  eats  them, 
and  gives  the  children  what  is  left.  Does  not  she  in  love 
prefer  every  child  ?  And,  going  down,  she  is  more  attentive 
to  the  youngest  than  to  those  that  are  older.  She  does  not 
disown  the  twenty-one-year-old  boy,  nor  the  sixteen-year-old, 
nor  the  twelve-year-old  ;  but,  after  all,  the  little  babe  in  the 
cradle  rules  the  whole  of  them.  Her  sensibility  and  kindness 
increase  in  the  ratio  of  their  need. 

Now,  that  which  the  mother  feels  is  the  type  of  universal 
motherhood,  or  the  true  Christian  feeling  when  it  shall  have 
been  ripened  in  human  nature.  Every  man  is  to  come  into 
that  state  in  which  he  shall  feel  for  others  kindness  and  good- 
will, so  that  their  prosperity  shall  be  his  joy,  and  so  that  if 
he  puts  out  his  hand  for  some  promised  fruit,  and  another, 
quicker  than  he,  gets  it,  he  shall  draw  back  his  hand  and  say, 
"  Thank  God,  it  is  yours.  I  am  glad  that  you  got  it."  That 
is  not  the  way  that  men  do  now-a-days  generally ;  but  it  is 
the  Christian  way. 


CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY.  551 

In  politics  men  do  not  prefer  one  another.  They  strive 
by  every  means  to  prevent  the  community  from  preferring 
others.  Men  are  standing  on  the  ground  of  selfish  animal- 
ism. Society  is  organized  on  the  same  principles  of  offense 
and  defense  which  prevail  among  the  beasts  of  the  field. 
The  law  of  strength  and  violence  is  a  hundred  times  stronger 
in  the  world  to-day,  outsid  of  the  household,  than  the  law 
of  kindness  and  love  and  sympathy.  But  there  is  a  day  com- 
ing when  the  household  feeling  will  become  the  neighborhood 
feeling,  and  the  town  feeling,  and  the  county  feeling,  and 
the  state  feeling,  and  the  national  feeling.  Then,  when 
nation  after  nation  comes  into  this  higher  manhood,  and  the 
public  sentiment  of  the  globe  begins  to  be  that  of  love  and 
sympathy,  the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth  in  which  dwell- 
eth  righteousness  will  have  come. 

"We  are  far  from  that  day.  We  see  the  dim  morning  twilight 
which  foretokens  it,  but  that  is  all ;  yet  the  day  is  coming 
when  the  animal  in  men  will  not  predominate  as  it  does  now. 

So  the  true  spirit  of  the  Christian  man  condemns  indif- 
ference ;  and  for  the  same  reason  that  it  condemns  this  it 
condemns  all  neglect,  all  carelessness.  They  are  wrong.  You 
have  no  right  to  be  without  feeling  for  others.  It  may  be 
that  your  occupation  is  such  that  you  are  absent-minded; 
but  no  man  ought  to  be  in  the  presence  of  another  person, 
though  it  be  only  a  child,  and  a  beggar's  brat,  without  expe- 
riencing a  feeling  of  interest  in  that  person.  Anything  that 
has  the  stamp  of  humanity  on  it  ought  to  excite  in  your 
bosom  positive  sympathy  and  good  will. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  a  man  to  walk  in  a  gallery  of 
magnificent  pictures  and  not  be  affected  by  them,  unless  he 
was  absent-minded  ;  and  it  ought  to  be  impossible  for  a  man 
to  walk  among  men  and  not  have  a  genial,  brotherly  feeling 
toward  them.  Strangers  come  together,  and  not  having  been 
introduced  they  will  walk  past  each  other  time  and  again, 
and  never  exchange  a  word.  Men  will  ride  together  for 
hours  in  a  stage-coach  without  any  intercourse  whatever ;  or 
if  there  is  any,  it  will  be  of  the  most  formal  character,  be- 
cause they  have  not  been  introduced  to  each  other. 

Many  men  who  are  not  church-members  have  more  true 


552  CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY, 

Christian  spirit  in  them  than  many  who  are  ;  for  they  do 
not  go  anywhere  without  feeling  kindness,  gentleness,  good- 
humor,  good-nature — and  good-nature,  if  it  is  not  a  grace,  is 
the  nurse  of  all  graces,  that  brings  them  up.  The  man  who 
carries  that  with  him  everywhere  and  always  is  better  than  a 
man  that  is  gruffly  orthodox. 

There  are  men  who  go  about  making  everbody  happy — 
and  it  does  not  take  a  great  deal  to  make  men  happy,  often- 
times. A  little  attention  makes  some  people  happy. 

I  recollect  meeting  in  the  street,  in  Brooklyn,  one  day,  a 
carpenter  who  had  made  some  repairs  on  my  house.  I  stop- 
ped and  said,  "How  do  you  do  ?"  and  shook  hands  with 
him.  "Now,"  said  he,  "you  big  folks,  who  live  in  fine 
houses,  do  not  know  how  much  good  it  does  a  poor  fellow 
when  you  speak  to  him  and  shake  hands  with  him  ;  but  I  tell 
you  it  does  him  a  great  deal  of  good.  Why,  your  stopping 
and  speaking  to  me,  and  shaking  hands  with  me,  will  make 
me  and  my  folks  happy  for  a  week.  When  I  go  home  to- 
night my  wife  will  say,  '  Where  have  you  been  ?  and  who 
have  you  seen  ?'  and  I  will  say,  '  I  have  seen  Mr.  Beecher.' 
'What  did  he  say?'  'Oh,  he  shook  hands  with  me,  and 
asked  after  my  family.'  She  will  go  on  asking  questions,  and 
the  children  will  ask  questions,  and  we  shall  talk  about  it  all 
the  evening,  and  all  the  week,  and  it  will  make  us  all  happy. 
It  isn't  much  to  you,  but  it  is  a  good  deal  to  us." 

There  is  many  a  man  in  this  audience  who  could  make 
happiness  follow  him  as  phosphorescent  light  follows  a  ship's 
wake  on  the  sea ;  but  most  of  you  are  so  genteel  that  you 
do  not  think  it  would  be  proper  for  you  to  have  to  do  with 
others  unless  you  have  been  introduced ;  and  some  of  you 
say,  "  It  is  not  for  us  to  mix  with  the  vulgar  herd;"  and 
others  are  timid  and  sensitive,  and  hesitate  on  that  account. 
But  there  is  not  one  of  you  that  is  not  honored  and  beloved  of 
God  in  the  proportion  in  which  you  let  your  light  shine  so  that 
other  men  may  walk  in  the  path  which  you  make  luminous. 

Indifference  to  men  is  a  sin.  It  is  not  necessary  to  your 
being  a  criminal  that  you  should  murder,  or  commit  bur- 
glary, or  set  a  house  on  fire,  or  pick  some  man's  pocket.  If 
you  take  your  culture,  and  taste,  and  sensibility,  and  wrap 


CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY.  553 

yourself  up  in  them,  and  walk  alone  among  your  fellow-men, 
touching  nobody,  kindling  nobody,  sympathizing  with  no- 
body, except  one  here  and  there  whom  you  select  as  a  com- 
panion for  yourself,  you  are  a  criminal  before  God ;  and  there 
is  many  a  man  that  walks  thus  who  is  a  greater  sinner  than 
the  man  who  is  hanged,  for  the  law  of  Christian  sympathy  is 
absolute  ;  it  is  the  imperial  law  of  the  realm.  It  is  the  ideal 
of  Christian  life ;  and  he  who  violates  it  by  counting  his 
fellow-men  as  nothing,  as  dust  under  his  feet,  as  dirt,  violates 
the  fundamental  law  of  the  universe,  and  is  a  criminal. 

We  always  sympathize  to  a  certain  extent.  He  is  a  bad 
man  who  does  not  sympathize  with  his  own  kin — though 
often  you  find  men  who  do  not  do  it.  Xot  unfrequently  you 
find  that  men  who  are  benign  on  the  street  are  ugly  at  home  ; 
and,  quite  as  frequently,  you  find  that  men  who  are  hard,  and 
whose  teeth  are  like  knives  in  business,  are  very  saints  at 
home.  You  could  not  pry  open  their  hand  with  a  burglar's 
tool  on  the  street ;  but  when  they  go  home  it  is  broad  open. 
They  would  not  give  anything  outside  of  their  household  ;  but 
if  their  wife  and  children  want  anything  they  readily  grant  it. 
If  you  saw  them  at  home  and  nowhere  else  you  would  say 
that  they  were  princes  of  generosity  ;'but  if  you  saw  them 
abroad  and  nowhere  else  you  would  say  that  they  were  tighter 
than  the  bark  on  growing  trees.  Now,  we  should  expect  a 
man  to  be  in  sympathy  with  those  who  bear  his  name  and 
carry  his  blood  ;  but  that  is  not  enough.  e '  If  ye  love  them 
that  love  you,  what  thank  have  yc  ?"  "  If  ye  salute  your 
brethren  only,  what  do  ye  more  than  others  ?  Do  not  even 
the  publicans  the  same  ?  " 

"With  our  neighbors,  also,  we  are  apt  to  be  in  sympathy — 
provided  it  is  not  when  we  are  in  collision.  For  example,  on  a 
holiday,  at  a  military  muster,  or  on  any  occasion  that  brings 
the  people  together,  there  is  generally  a  good-nature,  a  kind- 
ness of  feeling,  manifested  by  neighbors  toward  each  other, 
which  is  not  usual  at  other  times  and  places.  Men  who  at 
home,  working  on  their  farms  or  in  their  shops,  do  not  care 
for  their  neighbors,  when  they  get  away  from  home,  and  meet 
them  as  persons  that  live  near  them,  feel  very  much  drawn 
towar.l  them. 


554  CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY. 

You  will  see  that  in  traveling  abroad.  Men  to  whom  in 
Brooklyn  I  used  to  say  a  simple  "  Good  morning,"  in  Paris, 
when  I  was  home-sick,  1  wanted  to  put  my  arms  about. 
They  lived  near  where  I  lived,  and  that  was  under  the  cir- 
cumstances a  sufficient  reason  for  my  feeling  drawn  to  them. 
It  is  a  diffusive  form  of  selfishness  which  leads  you,  when 
you  are  away  from  home,  and  see  persons  who  live  near  where 
you  do,  to  sympathize  with  them.  People  sympathize  with 
their  own  households,  with  their  neighbors,  and  with  their 
own  countrymen,  as  against  foreigners. 

Men  having  the  same  interests — as,  for  instance,  stock- 
holders in  the  same  concern,  if  it  i  <  paying  a  good  dividend 
— sympathize  with  each  other.  Selfishness  sympathizes  with 
selfishness,  everywhere  and  always.  We  sympathize  with  per- 
sons of  our  own  sect.  We  sympathize  with  them  intensely 
when  they  are  attacked  by  another  sect,  though  not  so  in- 
tensely at  other  times.  When  nobody  attacks  us,  we  go  to 
work  to  point  out  heresy  among  ourselves,  and  are  like 
hounds  pursuing  each  other.  There  never  was  a  man  on 
earth  so  orthodox  but  that  there  was  somebody  a  little  higher 
than  he  in  orthodoxy  who  looked  down  upon  him,  and  said, 
"You  are  not  orthodox."  There  is  always  some  one  who 
thinks  he  is  a  little  nearer  to  God  than  anybody  else.  The 
scale  is  infinitesimal;  and  when  there  is  not  a  revival,  or 
some  other  special  influence  to  knit  men  together,  those  of 
the  same  denomination  are  apt  to  criticise  each  other  if  there 
is  the  difference  of  a  hair  between  them.  If  a  Methodist 
brother  builds  his  fence  three-quarters  of  an  inch  over  the 
line  on  the  land  of  another  Methodist  brother,  that  is  enough 
to  furnish  a  pretext  for  all  manner  of  lawsuits  and  quarrels — 
unless  there  is  a  great  religious  awakening,  or  unless  there  is 
some  squabble  between  some  other  denomination  and  the 
Methodists,  in  which  case  these  two  brethren  join  hands  and 
fight  the  common  enemy.  Men  that  quarrel  with  each  other 
on  farming  will  unite  their  forces  in  a  Presidential  election, 
and  shout,  and  grow  red  in  the  face,  in  contending  for  their 
favorite  candidate  or  party.  An  attack  on  sectarians  from 
the  outside  brings  them  together  very  quick  and  very  close. 

And  that  is  carried  further.     Men  outside  of  the  church 


CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY.  555 

baring  good  an  example  in  the  church,  why  snould  they 
not  follow  it  ?  As  sectarians  herd  with  sectarians,  as  men  in 
one  church  sympathize  with  each  other  as  against  those  of 
another  church,  so  you  will  find  men  in  society  at  large 
limiting  their  sympathy  and  good-will  very  nearly  to  those  of 
their  own  sort. 

In  speaking  thus,  I  do  not  undertake  to  lay  down  an 
extravagant  doctrine,  and  say  that  we  have  no  right  to  like 
those  that  are  of  our  sort :  we  have  that  right.  If  I  love 
painting,  I  have  a  right  to  associate  especially  with  those  who 
love  painting.  If  I  love  reading,  I  have  a  right  to  associate 
with  those  who  love  reading.  If  I  am  a  mechanic,  I  have  a 
right  to  associate  with  mechanics.  If  I  am  a  lawyer  or  jurist, 
I  have  a  right  to  associate  with  men  of  that  profession.  I 
have  a  right  to  associate  with  men  who  are  interested  in  the 
same  things  that  I  am.  There  is  certainly  a  propriety  in 
your  following  the  law  of  affinity  and  likeness  and  prefer- 
ence in  selecting  your  associates ;  but  I  object  to  your  whole 
manhood  being  absorbed  in  that  way.  I  object  to  your 
taking  those  that  you  like,  and  refusing  all  others  because 
they  are  not  of  your  sect  or  set.  I  think  it  is  a  selfishness 
that  God  frowns  upon,  and  one  that  hurts  your  soul. 

That  is  exactly  the  point  that  is  brought  out  in  the  parable 
of-  the  Good  Samaritan.  A  man  went  down  from  Jerusalem 
to  Jericho,  and  fell  among  thieves,  that  stripped  him  of  his 
raiment,  and  wounded  him,  and  departed  leaving  him  half 
dead.  He  lay  as  if  he  had  been  in  TVall  street.  And  when 
a  certain  priest  came  that  way  and  beheld  him,  and  saw  tj 
his  look  that  he  was  not  a  priest,  ho  walked  on,  saying  to 
himself,  "  Ho  '13  not  of  my  set;"  and  he  had  no  sympathy 
and  no  feeling  of  humanity  for  him.  By  and  by  there  came 
down  a  Levite,  and  he  looked  on  him,  and  said,  "Poor 
fellow  !  he  has  been  rather  roughly  used,"  and  walked  on  the 
other  side.  There  came  also  down  a  Samaritan  (Samaritan 
was  a  name  as  detestable  in  the  Jews'  ears  as  in  your  ears 
Abolitionist  was  twenty  years  ago)  ;  and  he  went  where  he 
was,  and  bound  up  his  wounds,  pouring  in  oil  and  wine,  and 
put  him  on  his  own  beast,  and  took  him  to  the  tavern,  and 
paid  his  bills  in  advance,  and  said  to  the  host,  "  Take  care  of 


556  CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY. 

him ;  and  if  any  exigencies  arise  which  shall  make  his  ex- 
penses more,  I  will  repay  thee."  "  Which  of  these  three  was 
neighbor  to  the  man  that  fell  among  thieves  ?"  asks  the 
Master.  Well,  which  was  ? 

Thus,  you  take  care  of  those  that  take  care  of  you,  and 
sympathize  with  those  that  sympathize  with  you,  and  that  is 
right  enough  ;  hut  you  neglect  those  that  are  not  of  your  sect 
and  set  and  sort,  and  that  is  wrong.  It  is  wicked.  Every 
human  being  has  a  right  in  you,  and  you  have  a  right  in 
every  human  being.  On  God's  globe  there  is  not  a  man — 
not  even  in  the  farthest  China — who  is  not  your  brother. 
There  is  not  a  poor  devotee  on  earth  that  bows  down  to  river 
or  star  who  is  not  your  brother  or  sister.  The  whole  human 
family  is  one,  of  whom  God  is  the  Father.  The  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  stronger  than  the  blood  of  any  earthly  father 
or  mother ;  and  you  are  united  by  the  blood  of  Christ  into 
one  great  household. 

Look  at  the  repugnances  which  spring  up  among  men, 
asd  judge  them  according  to  this  law  which  I  have  been 
developing. 

In  the  first  place,  we  feel  ourselves  justified  in  having 
great  indignation  and  great  vindictiveness  of  feeling  toward 
those  who  have  by  crime  or  vice  forfeited  their  place  and 
their  citizens'  right  in  society.  I  think  the  horror  with  which 
we  teach  our  children  to  look  upon  thieves  and  burglars  and 
harlots  is  one  of  the  most  pitiful  of  possible  commentaries  on 
human  nature.  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  yet  possible  to  bring 
to  bear  upon  the  criminal  classes  influences  which  shall 
wholly  restrain,  them  without  resorting  to  the  employment  of 
physical  force  and  the  infliction  of  pain  ;  but  judged  by  this 
higher  ideal,  what  a  state  of  things  it  is  in  which,  when  men 
need  most,  and  are  dying  for  the  want  of  somebody  to  look 
after  them,  and  take  care  of  them,  and  bear  with  them, 
because  they  are  sinful,  there  is  not  in  the  community  a 
church,  hardly  an  individual,  that  knows  how  to  suffer  for  the 
outcast  as  Jesus  Christ  suffered  for  the  whole  world  !  Christ 
died  for  his  enemies,  we  are  told.  It  is  made  conspicuous  by 
every  form  of  statement  in  the  New  Testament  that  God  so 
loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son  to  die  for 


CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY.  557 

it,  while  it  was  afar  off  from  him,  utterly  unlike  him,  and 
repugnant  to  every  conception  of  infinite  purity  and  good- 
ness. God's  nature  was  such  that  he  bowed  down  to  succor 
and  to  save  his  creatures  ;  and  when  he  rose  from  the  dead  he 
lifted  the  world  on  his  shoulders ;  yet  in  our  own  commu- 
nities, at  this  late  period  of  Christian  teaching,  we  are  brought 
up  to  abhor  jailbirds  as  we  do  toads,  and  to  detest  vicious 
and  criminal  men  as  if  they  were  snakes  and  vipers ;  and  we 
shut  them  out  of  our  hearts  as  if  they  were  not  men. 

Now,  as  I  hold,  we  must  abhor  vice  and  crime,  and  all 
that  is  evil ;  we  must  not  introduce  into  our  household  econ- 
omy those  who  shall  pervert  and  destroy  the  purity  of  our 
children ;  we  cannot  be  too  careful  on  that  side ;  and  yet 
there  is  no  man  so  cruel  that  his  cruelty  is  not  a  plea  to  our 
compassion ;  and  there  is  not  a  man  so  dishonest  that  his 
dishonesty  is  not  a  plea  to  our  thoughtfulness  and  sympathy. 
If  the  Spirit  of  Christ  were  in  us,  we  should  desire  to  succor 
most  those  who  most  need  succor.  No  man  is  so  much  in 
peril  as  the  man  whose  passions  are  corrupted ;  and  yet  we 
tread  down  the  criminal  classes.  But  all  such — the  multi- 
tudes of  vicious  boys  that  run  riot  at  night  in  our  great 
cities ;  the  great  mass  of  feculent  sediment  that  infests  our 
streets  ;  the  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  that  shock 
our  taste  and  are  repellent  to  our  unsanctified  natures — some- 
body must  care  for  them  or  they  will  perish.  God,  methinks, 
the  purest  and  the  highest,  is  the  only  one  that  calls  them 
brethren  while  we  gather  our  garments  up  and  walk  on  the 
other  side,  and  leave  them  weltering  in  their  vices. 

All  who  are  by  disposition  unlovely  we  feel  justified  in 
turning  our  backs  upon.  We  think  we  have  a  right  to  eschew 
their  company  and  speak  evil  of  them.  Here  is  a  man  that 
is  hard  and  grasping;  the  whole  neighborhood  agree  to 
call  him  an  Id  hunks,  an  avaricious  dog;  and  from  the 
moment  that  is  done,  every  thought  we  have  about  this  man 
is  one  that  strikes  him.  We  do  not  pity  him.  We  do  not 
consider  measures  for  his  relief.  We  do  not  take  remedial 
steps  in  respect  to  him. 

Let  a  man  come  to  this  hotel,  and  let  it  be  said  of  him, 
"  Do  you  see  that  man  ?  He  was  the  guardian  of  an  estate 


558  CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY. 

that  was  left  to  a  family  of  children,  and  he  cheated  them 
out  of  it ;  he  has  their  property ;  they  are  poor,  and  he  is 
here  spending  their  money."  That  would  be  infamous,  I 
admit ;  but  it  would  not  justify  me  in  treating  him  as  if  he 
were  not  a  man.  It  would  not  be  a  reason  why  I  should  not 
preach  to  him  and  pray  for  him  (for  we  are  commanded  to 
pray  even  for  those  who  despitefully  use  us).  He  would  not 
be  out  of  the  sphere  of  my  sympathy  because  he  was  a  wicked 
man.  If  you  are  a  Christian,  you  ought  to  be  in  sympathy 
with  men  in  the  proportion  in  which  they  are  wicked. 

We  cite  the  faults  and  foibles  of  men  as  reasons  why  we 
do  not  want  to  have  anything  to  do  with  them  ;  and  we 
submit  them,  often,  to  the  raillery  of  the  community. 

A  man  is  constitutionally  vain,  but  carries  himself  with 
constant  awkwardness,  and  does  not  know  it  perhaps;  and 
the  young  people  whisper,  and  tell  everything"  that  they  know 
about  him,  and  ridicule  him. 

All  churches  talk  about  each  other.  And  in  politics  and 
business  men  talk  about  each  other.  There  is  no  Chris- 
tianity of  any  conspicuous  eminence  that  teaches  us  to  bear 
each  other's  burdens.  There  is  no  Christianity  that  is  very 
current  which  teaches  us  to  sympathize  with  men  because 
they  are  imperfect,  or  to  take  care  of  them  because  they 
have  faults.  There  is  no  Christianity  of  any  great  prom- 
inence which  teaches  us  to  look  after  people's  hearts  on  the 
same  principle  that  we  look  after  their  bodies. 

"We  feel,  also,  that  we  have  a  right  to  toss  the  head  about 
poor,  ignorant,  shiftless  men,  who  do  not  succeed  in  life. 
Men  say,  "  Are  you  going  to  give  anything  more  to  that  mis- 
erable creature  ?  You  might  just  as  well  pour  water  into  a 
sieve.  You  might  as  well  put  money  in  a  bag  with  holes  in 
it.  Why,  he  is  one  of  the  poorest,  laziest,  most  shiftless 
wretches  in  the  world."  I  understand  perfectly  well  that 
there  is  a  political  economy,  and  that  it  is  not  best  to  adopt 
a  system  that  will  put  a  premium  on  laziness  or  shiftlessness ; 
but  do  you  know  that  laziness  and  shiftlessness  are  inborn  ? 
Do  you  know  that  if  you  are  smart  you  got  your  smartness 
from  father,  or  mother,  or  both,  by  lineal  descent  ?  Many 
persons  are  born  without  much  will,  and  with  very  little 


CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY.  559 

force  ;  they  have  a  small  stomach,  no  bigger  than  my  hand ; 
and  when  they  throw  down  food  into  it,  it  is  like  a  mill  which 
has  not  much  power  to  grind ;  and  the  blood  that  is  made 
there  is  poor  ;  and  there  is  but  little  of  it ;  the  consequence 
is  that  when  it  is  pumped  up  into  the  brain,  having  been  very 
poorly  aerated,  it  does  not  stimulate  the  faculties  a  great 
deal ;  it  is  pretty  cold  business  that  is  carried  on  up  there ; 
and  when  it  goes  down  again,  and  around,  it  goes  sluggishly; 
and  when  it  returns  to  the  brain  there  is  not  as  much  elec- 
tricity and  snap  and  fire  there  in  a  whole  day  as  you  get  in 
one  single  throb  ;  and  yet  you  stand,  with  your  superior  en- 
dowment, over  against  that  poorly-endowed,  badly-born  man, 
who  never  had  even  any  education  as  a  compensation  for  his 
bad  birth,  and  say,  "  Poor  devil !  let  him  alone.  The  best 
thing  he  can  do  is  to  die."  That  may  be  ;  but  it  is  not  very 
amiable  for  you  to  put  him  out  of  the  pale  of  sympathy  and 
succor  simply  because  he  needs  so  much. 

I  do  not  blame  you  so  severely  because  you  have  been  so 
badly  brought  up.  You  have  been  studying  catechisms  and 
creeds  so  that  you  have  had  no  time  to  study  conduct.  You 
have  been  so  busy  thinking  about  church  machinery  that  you 
have  not  had  much  time  to  think  about  Christian  spirit  and 
life.  You  have  studied  the  body  until  you  have  forgotten 
that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  the  soul,  or  until  you  act  as 
though  you  had.  I  do  not  blame  you  altogether — I  pity  you. 
If  there  is  anybody  that  needs  pity  it  is  a  man  in  a  Christian 
community  who  does  not  know  how  to  love  as  Christ  loves. 
Men  sometimes  pin  a  red  or  blue  rag  on  their  shoulder  as  a 
badge  to  show  what  organization  they  belong  to ;  and  many 
professed  Christians  are  known  as  such  only  by  the  rag  of 
doctrine  which  they  wear ;  but  if  any  man  have  not  the  spirit 
of  Christ  he  is  none  of  his.  Was  there  a  harlot  in  all  Galilee 
that  could  look  upon  Christ  and  he  not  know  it,  and  speak 
peaceable  things  to  her  ?  And  did  he  not  abhor  immorality  ? 
Did  not  thefts,  and  whoredoms,  and  all  forms  of  iniquity 
rise  before  him  blacker  than  they  can  rise  before  the  human 
imagination  ?  and  yet,  so  much  wickeder  was  it  to  be  selfish 
with  the  intellect  and  the  moral  feelings  than  to  be  selfish 
with  the  passions,  that  he  turned  and  looked  upon  the  Phari- 


560  CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY. 

see  and  said,  "  The  publicans  and  the  harlots  shall  go  into 
the  kingdom  of  God  before  you."  It  is  a  solemn  warning. 

We  talk  about  civilization  and  Christianity  in  the  world  ; 
but  when  I  see  how  men  live ;  when  I  see  how  much  the 
malign  passions  rule  and  how  little  they  are  subdued,  I  feel 
that  there  is  a  great  deal  lacking  of  that  which  constitutes 
true  civilization  and  Christianity  among  men  in  the  com- 
munity at  large  ;  and  I  ask,  "  Where  is  beneficence  ?  Is 
benevolence  a  real  vital  principle  ?  Is  everybody  happier 
where  you  go  ?  Does  summer  shine  out  of  your  soul  and 
make  summer  for  others  ?"  I  do  not  care  for  your  churches 
and  doctrines  if  they  do  not  create  in  you  the  fruit  of  the 
Gospel.  Without  love  to  God  and  men  your  professions  are 
vain  and  empty. 

Now,  I  ask  you  whether  there  is  not  a  difference  between 
the  natural  man  and  the  spiritual  man.  The  common  man 
is  good-natured  when  everything  pleases  him.  He  has  a  sort  of 
generous  feeling  when  he  has  more  than  he  knows  what  to  do 
with.  Under  such  circumstances  he  does  not  mind  throwing 
out  five  dollars  here  and  there,  once  in  a  while.  He  feels 
about  money  as  I  do  about  dirt.  I  do  not  value  dirt  very 
highly ;  and  if  a  man  wants  a  handful  of  dirt  I  will  give  it 
to  him.  I  will  not  be  stingy  about  it.  Men  are  very  gene- 
rous when  they  begin  to  have  a  good  deal ;  but  when  they 
get  rich  they  are  apt  to  become  penurious,  and  to  be  suspici- 
ous in  every  way. 

As  it  is  with  common  men,  so  it  is  with  Christians. 
When  I  see  a  man  going  about  the  community  and  prating 
about  Christianity,  I  say  to  him,  "  Where  is  the  radical  prin- 
ciple of  the  Gospel — love  ?  I  do  not  care  what  church  you 
are  in.  If  you  live  in  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
you  are  in  the  true  church,  no  matter  what  the  name  of  the 
external  church  to  which  you  belong  may  be.  If  your  spirit 
is  one  of  kindness  always  and  everywhere,  you  are  right,  no 
matter  what  teaching  you  have  been  under.  The  spirit  of 
essential  self-sacrifico  and  disinterested  love  is  Christian,  and 
nothing  is  Christian  which  comes  short  of  that.  In  propor- 
tion as  that  spirit  grows  in  you  are  you  growing  in  grace,  and 
orthodox  ;  but  in  proportion  as  you  substitute  outward  con- 


CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY.  561 

formities  for  that  spirit  you  are  becoming  heterodox,  and 
going  back  to  the  world." 

Oh,  my  friends,  it  is  ineffably  sweeter  to  be  right  in  this 
regard.  He  who  is  right  by  the  force  of  conscience  is  never 
so  happy  as  he  who  is  right  by  the  force  of  love ;  for  con- 
science is  a  hard  master,  and  carries  a  straight  rule.  The 
more  acute  your  conscience  is  to  inspire  you  to  duty,  the 
more  it  torments  you  when  you  violate  your  duty.  Con- 
science is  a  despot.  It  almost  never  smiles ;  it  sits  and 
scowls ;  and  its  business  is  to  flagellate  rather  than  reward : 
but  love  suffereth  long,  and  is  kind  ;  love  envieth  not ;  love 
vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up,  doth  not  behave  itself 
unseemly,  seeketh  not  her  own,  is  not  easily  provoked,  think- 
eth  no  evil.  Love,  transcendent,  shall  abide  when  doctrines, 
and  ordinances,  and  churches,  and  governments  shall  have 
passed  away — when  nothing  else  shall  remain  but  the  other 
supeme  moral  sentiments  of  the  soul — faith  and  hope.  Love, 
even  in  that  hour,  high  above  either  of  these,  and  above  all 
other  things,  high  above  them  as  the  spire  of  a  cathedral  is 
above  the  rooi  or  the  foundations — shall  exist ;  for  it  is  God; 
and  is  yet  to  be  God  over  all,  blessed — because  blessing — for 
ever  and  forever. 


562  CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY. 


PRAYEK  BEFORE  THE  SERMON. 

WE  rejoice,  our  Father,  that  thou  art  leading  o*ur  thoughts  up  to 
thee  by  all  the  associations  of  this  sacred  day ;  by  the  familiarities  of 
friendship;  by  the  rejoicing  of  love;  by  all  the  blessed  memories 
which  come  to  us  in  the  calm  and  quiet  of  the  Sabbath.  We  thank 
thee  that  the  whole  week  doth  not  need  to  rush  on  with  care  and 
burden ;  and  that  we  have  a  right  to  pause,  and  upon  one  whole  day 
to  rest  in  body  and  in  soul,  and  to  give  our  spirits,  oppressed  with 
labor  and  care,  repose,  or  to  give  them  incitement  or  instruction  in 
the  things  that  pertain  to  righteousness. 

Wilt  thou  grant  thy  blessing  to  rest  upon  this  day,  and  upon  all 
that  are  present  in  this  assembly,  coming  from  a  hundred  experiences, 
bearing  each  his  own  thread  of  history,  with  sorrows  not  alike  but  in 
common,  with  joys  also  in  common,  and  yet  strangely  different.  O 
Lord,  as  thou  dost  look  upon  every  heart  here,  and  see  that  it  is  in 
weakness  and  sinf  ulness,  and  in  everlasting  need  of  God's  help,  grant 
that  to  every  one  may  be  given,  this  morning,  that  quickening  Spirit 
which  bears  to  the  soul  peace,  and  purity,  and  the  sense  of  forgive- 
ness and  inspiration,  so  that  courage,  and  hope,  and  joy  may  spring 
up  from  associations  with  thee.  We  need  thy  help,  and  thou  art 
most  helpful.  We  need  thy  forgiveness,  and  thou  art  most  long- 
suffering,  forgiving  iniquity,  transgression  and  sin.  Thou  art  patient 
with  those  who  are  seeking,  even  in  the  least  degree,  to  live  aright ; 
and  assistance  cometh  to  them  from  the  divine  offices  of  the  Spirit. 
Not  the  sun,  traveling  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength,  sheds  more 
light  and  life  than  tLou,  in  the  greater  strength  of  thy  nature,  O  Sun 
of  righteousness,  that  dost  come  with  healing  in  thy  beams.  Vouch- 
safe to  every  one  in  thy  presence,  this  morning,  we  pray  thee,  the 
sanctifying  influence  of  thy  Spirit.  We  pray  that  thou  wilt  bless 
each  one  who  puts  forth  the  faintest  endeavor  to  live  better.  May 
whatever  is  good  in  us  ripen.  May  whatever  is  evil  in  us  be  more 
and  more  overruled.  May  we  not  refuse  to  go  forward  by  sitting 
down  in  sinf  ulness  and  remorse,  and  forever  looking  backward  and 
bemoaning  our  mistakes,  or  our  want  of  improvement  of  privileges, 
or  our  sorrows  in  bereavement.  May  we  forget  what  is  behind.  We 
are  children  not  of  the  past,  but  of  the  future.  We  live  by  faith,  and 
are  filled  with  hope.  May  we  look  forward  away  from  the  mistakes 
and  errors  of  the  past.  In  the  light  of  the  hope  that  is  in  Christ 
Jesus,  may  we  look  forward  and  press  forward  toward  the  mark,  for 
the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus. 

If  there  be  those  that  are  seeking  to  break  down  evil  habits,  give 
thou  them,  we  beseech  of  thee,  strength  not  only,  but  patience  to 
persevere  therein. 

Be  with  those  who  are  by  every  means  endeavoring  to  build  them- 
selves up  better,  and  more  and  more  Christlike.  Give  them  power 
to  gain  perfect  dominion,  at  length,  over  every  appetite,  over  every 
lust,  over  all  selfishness,  over  pride,  and  envy,  and  jealousy,  and 
every  malign  passion  that  is  in  the  soul.  And  may  all  those  that  are 
seeking  good  help  each  other.  Grant  that  there  may  be  more  pitiful- 
uess  in  our  souls  toward  any  whose  purposes  are  good,  but  who  are 


CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY.  563 

wafted  hither  and  thither,  not  by  their  own  will,  but  by  that  which 
Is  around  about  them. 

We  pray  that  we  may  be  bound  in  sympathy  even  to  those  who 
are  evil.  May  our  hearts  yearu  for  them  as  thy  heart  yearns  for  us. 
What  should  we  have  been  but  for  the  thought  of  God  resting  upon 
us,  and  for  thy  grace  and  patience  with  us?  We  should  have  been 
even  as  the  poorest  and  most  needy  are.  Let  us,  then,  not  be  for- 
given, and  be  the  recipients  everyday  of  thy  bounty,  and  consume  it 
selfishly  upon  ourselves,  turning  censoriously  upon  those  that  are 
less  favored  than  we,  and  condemn  them,  or  pass  them  by  with  indif- 
ference. May  we  be  joined  in  heart  to  those  who  are  beneath  and 
far  away  from  us,  even  as  we  are  joined  in  a  blessed  unity  to  thee 
and  to  thy  Spirit. 

Grant  thy  blessing  to  rest,  we  pray  thee,  to-day,  upon  this  house, 
and  all  that  dwell  in  it— upon  those  that  direct  and  control  it,  and 
upon  those  that  are  recipients  cf  their  kindness.  May  thy  blessing 
rest,  also,  upon  all  those  who  have  gathered  together  here  from 
neighboring  places.  Speak  peace  to  every  heart.  Comfort  the  sor- 
rowing. Strengthen  the  wavering.  Inspire  those  who  are  discour- 
aged. Give  courage  to  men  who  are  in  places  of  peril,  that  they 
may  resolutely,  and  with  divine  help,  overcome  their  adversaries. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  follow  our  thoughts;  for  what  Sabbath 
morning  dawns  upon  the  earth  that  our  hearts  do  not  search  out 
whom  we  love  everywhere?  Some  are  in  distant  lands,  some  are 
upon  the  sea,  some  are  in  far  remote  places  in  our  own  land,  and 
some  sit  sorrowful  in  their  homes,  waiting  and  watching.  Wherever 
they  are  whom  we  love,  love  thou  them  this  day,  and  bear  to  them 
some  sense  of  our  sympathy ;  and  may  our  prayers  fall  as  dews  on 
flowers  upon  their  heads. 

Let  thy  blessing  rest  upon  all  the  interests  of  this  great  land. 
Bless  the  President  of  these  United  States,  and  all  those  who  are 
joined  to  him  in  authority.  Bless  the  Governors  of  the  different 
States,  and  the  magistrates  therein,  and  the  citizens  belonging  thereto. 
Spread  abroad  the  light  of  knowledge,  we  pray  thee.  May  schools 
and  seminaries  of  every  kind  flourish.  May  intelligence  prevail 
throughout  the  whole  land.  And  grant  that  this  great  nation  may 
grow  up  in  strength  both  outward  ana  inward,  not  to  tread  down 
the  poor,  the  weak,  and  the  oppressed.  May  this  nation  not  be  filled 
with  greed  and  avarice,  but  may  it  at  last  begin  to  shine  abroad 
with  the  true  light  of  Christian  kindness,  and  become  the  defender 
of  the  helpless,  and  an  example  to  those  who  are  toiling  in  oppres- 
sion. At  last  may  that  light  come  forth  which  shall  emancipate 
the  world.  May  men,  touched  with  the  divine  Spirit,  live  again 
in  their  higher  nature,  and  become  too  strong  for  manacles  to  hold 
them,  and  too  wise  for  despots  to  oppress  them.  Thus  may  this 
whole  world  come  to  its  liberty  by  coming  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  receiving  the  new  manhood  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 

And  to  thy  name  shall  be  the  praise,  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit, 
•vermore.  Amen. 


564  CHRISTIAN  SYMPATHY. 

PRAYEE  AFTER  THE  SERMON. 

LORD,  grant  thy  blessing  to  rest  upon  us,  to  give  us  an  understand- 
ing heart,  not  only,  but  to  give  us  an  applying  disposition.  Grant 
that  the  truth  which  we  have  heard  may  be  as  seed  sown  in  good 
ground,  springing  up,  and  bringing  forth  a  hundred  fold.  Pity  those 
things  which  we  blame  in  ourselves,  and  those  things  which  we  rep- 
rehend in  others  as  their  teachers.  Have  compassion  upon  us  because 
we  are  sinners.  Have  compassion  upon  our  motives.  Have  compas- 
sion upon  all  those  faults  which  are  full  of  weakness  and  selfishness. 
Thou  that  makest  thy  sun  to  rise  on  the  good  and  bad  alike,  help  us, 
because  we  need  help.  Thy  goodness  and  our  want  join  in  one  plea. 
Be  merciful  to  us,  and  teach  us  to  be  merciful  to  each  other.  Spread 
abroad  that  large-mindedness  and  catholicity  of  feeling  which  shall 
unite  us,  with  growing  force,  to  thee  and  to  our  fellow-mon,  that  at 
last  we  may  understand  thy  law,  that  goes  everywhere,  disseminat- 
ing liberty,  being  imperious,  and  yet  full  of  freedom.  May  each  one 
of  us  hear  and  obey  the  command,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  all  thy  heart  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  And  to  thy 
name  shall  be  the  praise,  Father,  don,  and  Spirit,  evermore.  Amen* 


LUMINOUS  HOURS. 


I  purpose  giving,  this  morning,  mainly  a  historic  dis- 
course, tracing  the  line  of  events  that  preceded  and  imme- 
diately followed  that  scene  of  unparalleled  simplicity  and 
beauty  of  which  we  read  in  the  opening  service — the  Trans- 
figuration. I  know  of  scarcely  another  point  in  the  narrative 
of  our  Master's  life,  around  which  there  are  so  many  inter- 
esting questions,  and  from  which  may  be  drawn  so  many 
threads  woven  into  instruction  so  perfectly,  and  of  such  im- 
portance. 

The  first  question  that  arises  is  in  regard  to  the  time.  As 
you  will  perhaps  bear  in  mind,  in  the  narrative  that  we  read 
from  Luke  (for  this  event  is  described  by  Matthew  in  the 
17th  chapter,  and  by  Mark  in  the  9th  chapter,  as  well  as  by 
Luke  in  the  9th  chapter)  it  is  said,  "About  an  eight  days 
after,  (that,  evidently,  is  a  phrase  used  as  we  say  'About 
a  week,'  or  'About  ten  days.'  Both  of  the  other  evan- 
gelists say,  '  After  six  days,')  he  took  Peter  and  James  and 
John,  and  went  up  into  the  mountain  to  pray."  These  three 
disciples  seem  to  have  been  the  most  intelligent  and  the  most 
useful  of  the  disciple  band.  They  were  the  ones  that  almost 
always  accompanied  the  Saviour.  They  seem  to  have  been 
men  of  some  mark  and  character.  Certainly  they  proved 
afterwards  that  they  were  more  active  than  any  of  the  others. 
James  and  John,  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  were  called  "  Sons  of 
Thunder."  They  were  men  of  work.  And  when  the  Saviour 
went  off  on  any  mission,  he  took  Peter,  James  and  John  with 
him.  You  will  recollect  that  the  mother  of  John  and  James 

Preached  at  the  TWIN  MOUNTAIN  HOUSE,  White  Mountain*,  N.  H.,  Sunday  morn* 
Ing,  Sept.  6th,  1874.  Lesson :  Luke  lx.,  28-42.  Hymns  (Plymouth  Collection) :  Xus.  11% 
464,  Doxology. 


568  LUMINOUS  HOURS. 

undertook  to  make  them  Prime  Minister  and  Treasurer  of 
the  new  kingdom,  saying  to  Christ,  "  Grant  that  these  my 
two  sons  may  sit,  the  one  on  thy  right  hand,  and  the  other 
on  the  left,  in  thy  kingdom."  They  had  a  natural  ascendency 
over  the  other  disciples,  and  it  excited  envy  and  jealousy 
among  them.  The  dispute  on  the  way  to  Jerusalem,  as  to 
who  of  them  should  be  greatest,  came  in  part  from  this. 

Now,  Jesus  took  these  three  disciples,  it  is  said,  six  days 
after.  Six  days  after  what  ?  Well,  so  far  as  we  have  any  in- 
formation, after  nothing.  It  reveals,  in  one  sense,  we  may 
say,  the  loose  way  in  which  the  gospels  were  constructed. 
What  is  the  origin  of  the  four  lives  of  Christ  ?  If  Prescott 
should  sit  down  to  write  the  life  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
he  would  first  collect  facts,  dates,  etc.,  belonging  to  their 
career,  as  guides  or  milestones  by  which  he  would  travel 
through  their  history.  These  he  would  arrange,  introducing 
the  various  characters,  and  unfolding  their  experiences,  step 
by  step,  year  by  year,  and  putting  them  in  the  relation  of 
cause  and  effect,  of  precedent  and  consequent. 

Were  the  four  Gospels  written  in  that  way  ?  Did  Matthew, 
under  the  divine  inspiration,  sit  down,  begin  at  the  begin- 
ning, and  go  right  straight  through  to  the  end  ?  He  did  not. 
Neither  did  Mark,  nor  did  Luke,  who  was  the  most  method- 
ical of  all  of  the  evangelists ;  nor  did  John,  who  wrote  the 
last  Gospel  many,  many  years  after  the  others  were  written. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  our  Master,  so  far  as  we 
know,  never  wrote  a  line.  It  is  one  of  the  things  to  be 
remarked  with  wonder,  that  that  man,  whose  influence  has 
been  revolutionary  in  time,  and  on  the  globe,  never  put  pen 
to  paper.  Not  only  that,  but  nothing  went  down  as  coming 
accurately  from  his  lips,  and  by  his  direct  authority — not  one 
single  scrap.  All  that  we  have  of  his  sayings  and  teachings 
was  caught  up,  as  it  were.  The  disciples  were  with  him  in 
the  valleys,  on  the  mountain  sides,  in  obscure  fishing  villages, 
and  in  the  despised  province  of  Galilee ;  for  at  the  cruci- 
fixion, you  will  recollect,  it  was  said  to  them,  "  Your  speech 
bewrays  [betrays]  you,"  and  they  were  taunted  as  having 
come  from  Galilee.  The  inhabitants  of  Galilee  were  despised 
in  Jerusalem  as  in  Boston  men  are  if  they  do  not  live  in  the 


LUMINOUS  HOURS.  569 

"polished  city;"  as  they  are  in  New  York,  if  they  do  not 
live  in  the  "metropolitan  city;"  as  they  are  in  London,  if 
they  are  not  Londoners ;  and  as  they  are  in  Paris,  if  they 
are  not  Parisians.  These  were  refined  men,  and  esthetic 
people,  and  orthodox  folks,  who  regarded  Galilee  as  a  con- 
temptible province.  As  the  Jews  despised  the  Gentiles,  so 
the  Greeks  and  Romans  despised  the  provinces.  And  five- 
sixths,  nine-tenths,  nineteen-twentieths,  of  our  Lord's  life, 
was  passed  in  that  province.  But  his  instructions  there  were 
not  registered.  He  took  no  pains  to  have  them  sent  out. 
He  spoke  them,  and  lot  them  alone,  and  they  rested  sim- 
ply in  the  memory  of  those  who  were  around  about  him ; 
and  not  a  hundredth  nor  a  thousandth  part  of  them  have 
been  gathered  up  at  all.  The  words  of  John  are  very  signifi- 
cant where,  using  an  oriental  extravagance  and  employing 
metaphorical  language,  he  says,  "There  are  also  many  things 
which  Jesus  did,  the  which,  if  they  should  be  written  every 
one,  I  suppose  that  even  the  world  itself  could  not  contain  the 
books  that  should  be  written." 

It  always  seemed  strange  to  me,  since  there  was  such 
immense  fruitfulness  of  discourse  in  our  Master,  that  there 
never  came  to  us  anything  except  that  which  is  embalmed 
in  the  four  Gospels.  One  would  think  that  the  intelligent 
philosophers  of  his  day  might  have  caught  something,  and 
the  heathen  something,  and  thus  at  least  single  sentences 
would  have  been  handed  down  to  us ;  but  I  have  looked 
through  all  the  pseudo  and  counterfeit  gospels  of  the  third 
and  fourth  centuries,  and  in  other  works  outside  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  I  have  found  nothing  that  looks  like 
a  possible  sentence  uttered  by  our  Lord,  save  one.  It  seems 
as  though  this  might  have  been  spoken  by  him.  It  is  re- 
corded in  an  old  book  that  he  was  walking  along  the  road 
and  saw  a  man  working  on  Sunday,  or  on  the  Sabbath, 
as  they  would  call  it,  and  said,  "If  thou  understandest 
what  thou  art  doing,  blessed  art  thou ;  but  if  thou  un- 
derstandest it  not,  thou  art  accursed."  That  is  to  say, 
"If  thou  hast  so  large  an  idea  of  a  man's  life  as  to  look  upon 
the  Sabbath  day  as  his  servant,  and  not  his  master,  and  thou 
art  working  in  that  broad  sphere  of  intelligence,  blessed  art 


570  LUMINOUS  HOURS. 

thou,  because  thou  art  emancipated  ;  but  if  thou  believest  the 
Sabbath  day  to  be  a  day  of  bondage  and  a  law  over  all,  and 
in  defiance  of  that  art  working  on  it,  accursed  art  thou." 
This  sounds  very  much  like  the  Master.  It  resembles  many 
sayings  of  his.  Besides  that,  I  know  not  of  a  single  other 
one  that  is  to  be  found  out  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

How,  then,  came  the  Gospels  into  being  ?  What  is  the 
origin  of  them  ?  Well,  those  who  heard  him  went  out  and 
repeated  what  they  heard.  Of  course  there  would  be  hun- 
dreds of  men  talking  up  and  down  in  the  villages,  and  telling 
what  they  heard  him  say,  and  what  they  saw  him  do.  By  and 
by  one  would  distort  the  truth  a  little,  and  another  would 
distort  it  a  little  more  ;  and  after  some  twenty  years  it  became 
apparent  that  there  were  so  many  different  versions  as  to 
make  it  necessary  that  somebody  should  give  authentic  state- 
ments. So  Matthew,  who  companied  with  Christ,  wrote  the 
first  Gospel ;  Luke  wrote  another ;  Mark,  another ;  and  St. 
John  the  last.  It  is  said  that  St.  John  wrote  his  at  the 
request  of  the  elders  of  Ephesus,  in  order  to  include  in  it 
some  teachings  that  Christ  gave,  of  which  the  other  Gospels 
had  nothing. 

On  what  principle  did  they  construct  the  Gospels  ?  Sup- 
pose in  a  village  where  there  are  a  dozen  officers,  intelligent 
men,  who  went  with  Sherman  on  his  march  to  the  sea,  they 
should  come  together  and  talk  about  that  campaign.  One 
would  tell  a  story ;  that  would  suggest  another  which  some- 
body else  would  tell,  and  that  would  suggest  another.  One 
man  would  say  what  he  saw,  another  what  he  saw,  and  an- 
other what  he  saw.  So  it  would  go  round  and  round  the 
circle ;  and  the  whole  evening  would  be  spent  in  that  way. 
The  principle  on  which  they  would  relate  their  separate  nar- 
ratives would  be  association.  They  would  not  attempt  to 
give  a  connected  history.  One  man's  story  would  make 
another  man  think  of  something  that  happened  five  years 
before ;  and  that  would  make  another  man  think  of  some- 
thing that  happened  two  years  after.  The  different  narra- 
tives would  be  thrown  together,  so  far  as  the  time  element  is 
concerned,  in  confusion ;  and  yet  every  particle  would  be 
true. 


LUMINOUS  HOURS.  571 

Now,  the  evangelists  put  their  accounts  together  in  very 
much  the  same  manner.  The  Gospels  are  not  constructed  in 
any  order  of  time  or  dates.  The  facts  which  are  recorded  in 
them  stand  in  the  order  of  suggestion  and  association.  One 
is  given,  and  another,  and  another ;  and  when  you  come  to 
connect  dates  with  them,  you  find,  perhaps,  that  a  thing 
which  happened  near  the  close  of  the  Saviour's  life  is  placed 
at  the  beginning,  and  that  a  thing  which  took  place  near  the 
beginning  of  his  life  is  placed  toward  the  close.  It  is  evident 
from  the  mixed  way  in  which  the  events  stand  that  there  was 
a  very  loose  manner  of  combining  them.  This  is  shown  in 
the  very  first  clause  of  the  passage  which  we  read — "  About 
eight  days  after."  Altar  what,  is  not  stated.  The  writer 
had  something  in  his  mind  which  he  did  not  record. 

We  have,  then,  to  look  into  the  evangelists  more  closely 
to  see  where  it  wa  j  and  when  it  was  that  the  steps  were  begun 
which  led  to  this  grand  culmination  on  the  mountain  top, 
— this  transcendent  vision  of  glory — and  what  those  steps 
were.  Our  Saviour's  whole  active  ministry  probably  did  not 
overrun  fifteen  months.  The  great  bulk  of  his  miracles  and 
instruction  were  included  in  one  year.  It  has  generally  been 
said  that  there  were  three  years  of  his  ministry ;  but  the 
active  part  of  those  three  years  did  not  reach  much  over  one 
year,  and  according  to  the  best  modern  scholars  did  not  ex- 
tend beyond  fifteen  months  ;  and  of  this  time  perhaps  all  but 
two  months — one  spent  actively  in  Judaea  and  one  in  Peraea — 
was  spent  in  Galilee. 

It  was  in  Galilee  that  his  fame  began.  What  was  the 
reason  of  that  fame  ?  The  reason  of  it,  when  you  come  to 
trace  it  back  to  the  very  root,  was  that  he  was  the  most 
perfect  Jew  that  the  Jews  had  ever  seen  or  heard.  It  is  very 
striking  to  see,  in  looking  through  the  life  of  Christ,  the 
sentiment  of  patriotism  that  he  touched.  He  was  a  Jew 
after  the  strictest  type.  He  knew  that  he  was  descended 
from  the  old  and  revered  ancestral  Jewish  stock.  He  con- 
formed to  the  usages  of  the  Jews.  He  observed  the  Sabbath 
day.  He  worshiped  in  the  synagogue.  He  went  to  Jeru- 
salem to  attend  the  great  feasts.  He  represented,  to  the 
common  people,  in  whose  hearts  the  sentiment  of  patriotism 


572  LUMINOUS  HOURS. 

was  the  strongest,  the  perfect  Jew.  When  he  began  to 
work  miracles,  they  said,  "Another  prophet  has  come." 
The  instruction  that  followed  his  guileless  life ;  his  wonder- 
workings ;  his  appeals,  not  so  much  to  the  reason  as  to  the 
moral  sentiments ;  his  kindness  and  familiarity ;  his  going 
about  and  doing  good,  in  contrast  with  the  haughtiness  of 
the  Pharisees,  and  with  the  selfishness  that  belonged  to  the 
dominant  party  at  that  time  in  the  Jewish  economy;  his 
sympathy  for  the  poor,  the  sick,  the  necessitous  of  every 
name — these  things  won  the  great  multitude  to  him,  and 
they  regarded  him  as  a  prophet  in  that  long  line  of  Jewish 
prophets  of  whom  they  were  proud,  and  of  whom  the  whole 
world  has  become  justly  proud,  because  among  them  have  been 
some  of  the  grandest  moral  natures  that  ever  lived.  There 
have  been  men  in  history  that  illumined  philosophy,  and  de- 
veloped power,  and  achieved  military  glory ;  but  nowhere  has 
the  moral  element  been  more  conspicuous  than  in  the  Jewish 
nation,  of  which  men  nowadays  are  sometimes  so  much 
ashamed.  The  faith  of  our  fathers,  their  conscience,  and 
their  hope  of  immortality,  all  sprang  from  that  wonderful 
people ;  and  Jesus  seemed  to  his  own  countrymen  to  be  the 
most  illustrious  among  them.  They  felt  that  their  time  had 
come.  This  proud  nation,  on  which  the  Koman  yoke  lay, 
and  which  the  Assyrian  had  trampled  into  the  dust,  but 
which  inherited  the  promises  of  God,  longed  for  emancipa- 
tion ;  they  looked  and  waited  for  it.  And,  at  last,  there  came 
among  them  a  man,  spotless,  wise,  and  of  wonderful  power 
with  God  and  with  men,  and  he  carried  the  hearts  of  the 
common  people  with  him,  as  being  the  best  Jew  that  ever 
lived  in  their  modern  times.  When  miracle  after  miracle  was 
wrought  by  him,  the  Pharisees  found  fault ;  but  the  common 
people  were  on  his  side  ;  and  all  the  time  they  had  this  latent 
feeling  :  "  He  will  very  soon  disclose  himself  ;  the  old  banner 
will  outroll  again,  he  will  draw  his  sword,  the  promises  shall 
be  fulfilled,  and  no  longer  shall  we  be  the  tail  but  we  shall 
be  the  head ;  all  nations  shall  come  and  worship  at  Jerusa- 
lem, and  we  shall  be  God's  right  favored  trusty  stock  ;  we 
shall  convert  the  Gentiles,  and  then  the  whole  earth  shall  be 
redeemed."  So  they  watched  him  with  great  expectation ; 


LUMINOUS  HOUftS.  573 

and  days  and  weeks  went  by,  and  the  blind  received  their 
sight,  and  the  lame  walked,  the  lepers  were  cleansed,  the  deaf 
heard,  the  dead  were  raised,  and  the  poor  had  the  gospel 
preached  to  them;  and  they  said,  "When  will  the  time 
come — everything  is  on  the  way  to  it,  but  when  will  it  come — 
that  he  will  declare  himself  the  Messiah  ? " 

It  was  to  the  north-east  shore  of  the  sea  of  Tiberias,  or 
Galilee,  that  Christ  went,  not  long  before  the  occurrence  of 
this  scene,  to  rest.  Overborne  with  the  fatigue  of  instruc- 
tion, he  told  his  disciples  to  get  with  him  into  a  ship,  or  boat, 
and  they  went  thither  with  him.  When  the  multitudes  heard 
that  he  had  gone  there  they  ran  around  the  lake  shore,  out  of 
their  cities  and  villages,  to  join  him.  The  average  distance  was 
not  above  six  miles.  It  was  not  further  than  that,  even  from 
Capernaum.  At  one  point  the  mountain  came  down  to  the 
very  sea.  Between  that  and  the  mouth  of  the  Jordan  there 
was  a  large  plain.  There  it  was  that  the  Saviour  landed  ;  and 
it  is  said  that  there  were  some  five  thousand  persons  there, 
besides  the  women  and  children ;  so  that  there  could  not 
have  been  much  less  than  ten  thousand  people  gathered  there. 
He  rested  and  taught  them  all  day ;  and  when  evening  came 
his  heart  was  filled  with  compassion  toward  them  on  account 
of  their  hunger — for  the  Saviour  thought  of  bread-and-but- 
ter as  well  as  of  catechism.  He  thought  of  men's  bodies 
as  well  as  of  their  souls.  He  had  regard  for  physical  as  well 
as  for  spiritual  wants.  There  were  ten  thousand  people  with- 
out food  assembled  before  him  at  that  time,  and  then  it  was 
that  he  performed  the  miracle  of  feeding  the  multitude. 
That  was  the  most  undisguised  miracle  of  the  whole  series. 
There  was  no  deception  about  it.  If  you  think  that  a  man 
can  carry  food  for  ten  thousand  persons  in  his  pockets,  or 
that  he  can  conceal  it  in  the  caves  of  a  mountain  and  sur- 
prise them  with  it,  you  are  greatly  mistaken.  There  could 
have  been  no  such  thing  as  collusion  in  this  case.  Imagine 
how  much  it  would  take  to  feed  ten  thousand  people,  so  that 
there  should  be  enough,  and  twelve  baskets  over.  He  took 
the  five  loaves  and  the  two  fishes,  and  multiplied  them,  and 
multiplied  them,  until  the  ten  thousand  persons,  men,  women 
and  children,  were  fed,  under  circumstances  that  made  it 


574  LUMINOUS  HOURS. 

evident  that  it  must  be  a  divine  power  that  was  at  work. 
There  was  no  getting  around  it.  If  he  had  raised  a  man 
from  the  dead  they  might  have  said,  "  Oh,  he  had  just  fainted 
away ; "  if  he  had  restored  some  person  that  was  sick  of  a 
fever,  they  might  have  said,  "  Well,  there  are  doctors  that 
can  heal  the  sick  by  magnetic  influence  ;"  but  no  man  can 
feed  ten  thousand  folks  from  five  loaves  and  two  fishes  by 
anything  short  of  superhuman  power.  It  was  one  of  the 
most  convincing  of  miracles ;  the  people  were  convinced ; 
and  they  said,  "  Indeed,  unquestionably,  this  is  our  long- 
promised  Leader."  It  is  recorded  that  then  they  undertook 
to  take  him  by  force  and  make  him  king.  That  was  the 
point  of  the  highest  popular  enthusiasm.  Then  it  was  that 
the  wave  broke  and  overwhelmed  them  with  disappointment, 
for  he  not  only  refused  to  be  king,  but  he  determined  to  de- 
part. The  disciples  themselves  were  caught  up  in  the  popular 
enthusiasm,  and  that  single  sentence  is  very  significant  where 
it  is  said,  "  He  constrained  [compelled]  the  disciples  to  get 
into  a  ship,  and  to  go  before  him  unto  the  other  side."  They 
were  so  wrought  up  with  the  multitude  that  he  was  obliged  to 
exercise  his  authority  over  them,  and  take  hold  of  Peter,  and 
say,  "  Get  into  that  boat,"  and  to  push  John  in,  and  send 
them  off.  Having  sent  them  off,  he  went  back  to  the  moun- 
tain to  pray. 

What  was  there  in  that  refusal  to  be  king  that  should 
damage  him  ?  Any  man  who  is  curious  of  human  nature, 
and  watches  to  see  how  the  heart  and  mind  work,  knows  how, 
in  our  day,  where  there  is  a  cause  in  which  men  are  engaged, 
as  for  instance  the  temperance  cause,  they  become  enthusi- 
astic, and  their  leaders  eagerly  zealous.  Let  a  minister  in  a 
parish,  during  a  temperance  excitement,  preach  that  to  ab- 
stain from  intoxicating  drinks  is  well,  to  be  sure,  but  that  he 
does  not  want  to  sign  the  pledge  ;  let  him  say,  "  I  believe 
that  every  man  should  be  temperate,  but  I  do  not  think  it 
necessary  for  him  to  bind  himself  never  to  touch  a  drop  of 
them,  when  the  cloud  overshadowed  them,  from  which 
edge,  but  he  won't  go  in  body  and  soul  and  help  carry  on 
this  work  ; "  and  they  dislike  him  more  than  they  do  drink- 
ers, and  oftentimes  more  than  they  do  liquor  dealers  them- 


LUMINOUS  HOURS.  575 

selves.  Men  who  are  conducting  a  reform  want  people  to 
come  in  or  keep  out ;  they  do  not  want  any  half-way  folks 
connected  with  them. 

Now,  the  Jews  were  full  of  expectancy  ;  they  thought  the 
time  was  coming  nearer  and  nearer  when  he  was  to  declare 
himself  as  their  king ;  their  hearts  grew  warmer  and  warmer, 
and  their  enthusiasm  burned  higher  and  higher  until  the 
climax  was  reached, — and  then  he  turned  away  and  utterly 
refused  to  be  king  ;  and  when  the  disciples  attempted  to  per- 
suade him  lie  warned  them  off,  and  sent  them  back  into  the 
boat,  and  departed  himself  to  the  mountain.  The  people 
were  disappointed  in  him,  and  said,  "  He  is  a  sham ;  he  is 
a  pretender ;  he  has  no  heart,  no  nerve,  no  bone  and  muscle  ; 
he  is  nothing;"  and  that  was  the  end  of  his  popularity. 

You  will  recollect  how,  that  same  night,  when  the  disci- 
ples were  on  the  sea,  he  came  to  them  walking  on  the  water, 
and  quieting  the  wind  which  was  "  contrary  unto  them." 
And  they  came  ashore  and  landed  at  Magdala,  a  little  south 
of  Capernaum,  on  the  northwest  coast  of  Galilee.  There  he 
was  met,  we  are  told,  by  the  Pharisees,  by  the  Scribes,  and 
by  the  Herodians.  The  Pharisees  represented  the  most 
orthodox  people  among  the  Jews.  The  Scribes  were  their 
teachers,  their  doctors,  their  lawyers,  the  most  learned  and 
eminent  men  that  they  had  among  them.  The  Sadducees 
represented  the  philosophic  element.  They  were  not  very 
religious,  but  they  made  up  in  ambition  what  they  lacked  in 
other  respects.  At  this  time  the  Sadducees  were  in  great 
power ;  I  think  both  the  high-priests  were  Sadducees.  The 
Herodians  represented  political  ideas  and  influences  of 
the  reigning  court.  So  at  Magdala  Christ  met  the  ortho- 
doxy of  the  Jews,  the  scholarship  of  the  Jews,  the  advanced 
philosophy  of  the  Jews,  and  the  regnant  politics  of  the  na- 
tion. Every  element  of  power  among  the  people  he  found 
waiting  for  him.  And  when  he  undertook  to  teach  them, 
their  ears  were  shut  to  him  on  every  side.  Unfaith  and 
scornfulness  confronted  him  whichever  way  he  turned.  He 
found  himself  rejected  everywhere.  And  he  was  not  spared 
from  ridicule.  When  he  spoke  of  the  bread  from  heaven, 
men  said  to  him,  "Why  don't  you  give  us  that  bread?" 


576  LUMINOUS  HOURS. 

Contempt  was  heaped  upon  him  in  every  form.     He  was  met 
with  the  most  caustic,  bitter,  taunting  feelings. 

At  this  place  Christ  took  a  ship,  with  his  disciples,  and 
sailed  up  the  coast  to  Bethsaida  Julius.  He  also  went  to 
Chorazin.  Capernaum  was  likewise  visited  by  him.  There 
he  was  grieved  and  heart-sick,  as  he  was  leaving  Galilee  for 
the  last  time.  Then  it  was  that  he  looked  wistfully  at  the 
cities  on  the  hill,  where  he  had  spent  so  much  time,  and 
said, 

"  Woe  unto  thee,  Chorazin !  woe  unto  thee,  Bethsaida !  for  if  the 
mighty  works  T\hich  were  done  in  you  had  been  done  in  Tyre  and 
Sidon,  they  would  have  repented  long  ago  in  sackcloth  and  ashes. 
But  I  say  unto  you,  it  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  Tyre  and  Sidon  at 
the  day  of  judgment  than  for  you.  And  thou,  Capernaum,  which  art 
exalted  into  heaven  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell;  lor  if  the  mighty 
works  which  have  been  done  in  thee  bad  been  done  in  Sodom,  it 
would  have  remained  until  this  day." 

Landing  at  Bethsaida  Julius,  he  heals  a  blind  man,  and 
then  goes  on  far  north  to  get  out  of  the  way  of  the  rabble, 
and  to  escape  insult.  To  tell  the  truth,  Jesus  was  tired  ;  he 
was  worn  out — for  he  had  a  body,  and  it  behooved  him  to 
be  like  his  brethren ;  his  spirits  were  sucked  up ;  and  he 
longed  for  solitude.  80  he  went  to  the  very  bounds  of  Pales- 
tine, northward  to  Cesaraea  Philippi,  called  "  the  coast  [?'.  e. 
the  borders]  of  Tyre  and  Sidon."  It  was  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  these  cities ;  but  he  did  not  go  to  them,  so  far  as 
we  know.  He  attempted  to  hide  himself  ;  and  he  gave  in- 
junctions that  nobody  should  be  told  where  he  was. 

Here  opened  the  history  of  the  Syrophoenician  woman, 
who  brought  to  him  her  daughter  that  was  possessed  ;  and  it 
was  in  close  connection  with  this  that  the  Transfiguration  took 
place. 

This  leads  me  to  say  that  in  the  account  of  his  ascending 
the  high  mountain  at  evening,  no  mention  is  made  of  the 
place — a  circumstance  which  brings  to  mind  again  the  singu- 
lar manner  in  which  the  Gospels  were  constructed.  Mount 
Tabor,  which  is  to  the  southwest  of  Capernaum  in  Galilee, 
has  been  said  to  be  the  mount  of  Transfiguration  ;  but  it  is 
morally  certain  that  it  was  not,  for  the  reason  that  from  im- 
memorial it  was  a  hill  fortified  by  a  citadel.  Josephus  speaks 


U'MINOUS  HOURS.  577 

of  strengthening  its  works,  so  that  it  must  have  been  a 
place  frequented  by  soldiers  and  people.  It  is  impossible 
that  Mount  Tabor  should  have  been  the  scene  of  the 
Transfiguration.  History  rather  points  out  that  this  scene 
occurred  on  the  skirt,  or  one  of  the  bounds  of  Mount  Her- 
mon — a  snow-clad  mountain  that  never  lifted  the  white  cap 
from  its  head.  There  it  was  that  Jesus  went  at  night  with 
Peter,  James  and  John. 

It  was  a  custom  of  Orientals,  as  it  is  now,  after  wrapping 
their  head  with  a  mantle  and  saying  their  prayers,  to  in- 
stantly lie  down  and  fall  asleep,  (men  in  the  open  air  sleep 
easily.)  At  evening  our  Saviour  ascended  high  up  on  the 
flanks  of  Hermon,  and  these  three  men  were  asleep,  as  they 
were  in  the  garden  afterwards ;  and  Jesus  now,  as  then, 
prayed ;  and  while  he  prayed  a  great  change  came  over  his 
appearance.  It  is  said  that  his  face  did  shine  as  the  sun ; 
and  his  raiment  was  white  and  glistering — exceeding  white, 
like  the  snow.  It  is  not  said  that  he  was  lifted  up,  though 
Raphael,  in  his  picture  of  the  Transfiguration,  makes  him  so ; 
but  that  he  stood  wonderfully  changed  in  his  whole  aspect  is 
the  sum  of  the  declaration  of  the  Gospels. 

There  appeared  also  Moses  and  Elias.  Why  they  ?  Why 
not  angels  ?  Why  not,  as  at  Christ's  temptation,  and  at  his 
baptism,  personages  of  celestial  origin  ?  You  are  to  remem- 
ber that  the  old  dispensation  was  about  to  cease  in  power  for 
the  sake  of  giving  place  to  the  new — that  is  to  say,  as  the 
blossom  falls  in  order  that  the  fruit  may  swell  under  it,  and 
be  better  than  the  blossom,  so  the  old  dispensation  was  the 
blessed  flower  of  ages  from  which  has  come  the  noblest  fruit 
that  the  world  ever  saw;  it  was  fit  that  there  should  be 
witnesses  from  the  old  dispensation  ;  and  there  were  not  two 
names  belonging  to  that  dispensation  which  were  more  illus- 
trious than  those  of  Moses  and  Elias,  or  Elijah — the  He- 
brew name  is  stronger  than  the  Greek.  Moses  was  the 
grandest  law-giver,  and  Elijah  was  the  noblest  prophet  and 
reformer,  of  his  time.  They  stood  magnificent  as  the  pyra- 
mids of  Egypt.  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  were  treasured 
names ;  but  these  men  never  did  or  said  much  that  was 
worth  remembering.  No  philosophy,  no  organization,  no 


578  LUMINOUS  HOURS. 

new  order  in  the  state,  and  no  development  of  spirit-life, 
ever  sprung  from  them.  They  were  simply  magnificent  pic- 
torial heads  and  fountains  of  Jewish  stock.  They  were  pious, 
pure,  and  mildly  sagacious.  Their  nation  was  proud  of  them 
as  of  mythical  men.  When  it  came  to  the  matter  of  national 
growth  and  reform  they  were  of  no  account.  Moses  was  the 
greatest  man  of  antiquity  ;  and  I  think  I  may  say  that  even 
in  modern  times  a  greater  than  he  has  never  walked  the 
earth.  "Wondrous  was  his  career  beyond  the  power  of  words 
to  paint.  At  forty  he  began  and  was  cast  out ;  then  he  spent 
forty  years  more  in  the  wilderness  as  in  a  school  of  solitude  ; 
and  then  at  eighty,  when  most  men  are  ready  to  lay  down  the 
burden  of  life,  he  took  it  up  and  commenced  the  work  of 
emancipating  and  organizing  the  men  of  the  wilderness.  At 
the  age  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  his  eye  was  not 
dimmed,  and  he  left  a  record  which  has  not  died  out.  There 
never  has  been  a  commonwealth,  and  there  never  will  be  one, 
without  having  the  marrow  and  bone  and  muscle  of  Moses 
put  into  it.  Absolutely,  his  was  one  of  the  greatest  names 
of  the  world,  and  it  was  unquestionably  the  greatest  name  of 
antiquity. 

The  name  of  Elijah  was  also  illustrious.  When  the  king- 
dom seemed  about  to  be  destroyed,  when  Ahab  the  idol- 
atrous, and  Jezebel  the  infamous,  caused  the  prophets  of  God 
to  be  hunted,  then  came  this  man  as  a  flame  of  lightning  and 
a  burst  of  thunder  from  the  wilderness,  and  undaunted  he 
put  down  the  king,  and  slew  the  prophets  of  Baal,  and 
restored  the  kingdom,  and  exerted  such  an  influence  that 
his  name  to  this  hour  is  talismanic  in  the  history  of  the  Jews ; 
so  that  when  they  have  their  Pentecostal  feast,  or  Passover, 
there  is  always  a  chair  left  for  Elijah,  as  with  an  expectation 
of  his  coming. 

These  two  men  stood  transfigured  as  the  angels  of  heaven, 
and  Christ  was  transfigured  between  them.  What  was  the 
theme  of  their  conversation  in  this  august  drama?  His 
death,  that  he  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem. 

When  you  consider  the  solitude  of  the  mountain,  the  cool 
air,  and  the  green  grass  upon  which  they  were,  and  the  mag- 
nificent background  of  glacier-capped  Hermon;  when  you 


LUMINOUS  HOURS.  579 

consider  that  it  was  night,  and  that  the  three  disciples  lay 
sleeping  while  this  magnificent  picture  was  passing  before 
them,  —  a  transcendent  Gospel  before  men  dead,  as  it  were 
— when  you  consider  these  things,  you  must  feel  that  this 
was  one  of  the  most  illustrious  spots  of  the  whole  history  of 
the  New  Testament. 

Just  as  these  figures  were  disappearing,  Peter,  James,  and 
John  awoke ;  and  they  saw  the  brightness  and  the  glory  as 
they  were  fainting,  fainting,  fainting  and  going  out  in  the 
air;  and  Peter,  the  impetuous,  who  always  spoke  first  and 
afterwards  thought  what  he  had  said,  exclaimed,  "  0  Master  ! 
let  us  stay  here  forever.  Let  us  build  three  tabernacles — one 
for  thee,  and  one  for  Moses,  and  one  for  Elias;" — "for  he 
wist  not  what  he  said,"  as  it  is  recorded ;  and  he  is  not  the 
only  descendant  of  the  apostles  who  has  not  known  what  he 
was  talking  about,  when  speaking  on  such  subjects!  The 
Master  adjured  them  that  they  should  tell  no  man. 

Then  of  these  figures  that  were  luminous,  the  two  de- 
parted. Christ  apparently  resumed  his  natural  aspect ;  but 
the  whole  heaven  was  as  one  great  beaming  mass  of  light ; 
and  a  vision  shone  upon  them;  and  out  of  that  cloud  as 
from  a  voice  of  thunder  came  the  words,  "My  beloved 
Son — hear  ye  him  ; "  and  then  the  vision  departed. 

This  doubtless  took  place  between  midnight  and  the 
dawn.  When  the  morning  had  come,  Jesus  took  his  dis- 
ciples and  began  to  talk  to  them  about  his  approaching 
trial  and  death.  They  descended  with  him  from  the  moun- 
tain ;  and  when  they  had  reached  the  base  the  people  saw 
him  coming,  and  were  surprised  and  amazed.  It  seems  that 
he  retained  something  of  the  appearance  which  he  had  on  the 
mountain  top,  and  they  ran  to  him.  Soon  he  found  his  dis- 
ciples in  an  altercation  with  the  Pharisees.  Then  occurred  a 
scene  which  was  the  antithesis  of  that  of  the  Syrophoanician 
woman.  A  father  met  Jesus  at  the  bottom  of  the  mountain, 
and  no  dramatic  literature  has  anything  to  be  compared  with 
that  father's  petition  for  his  son.  Christ  healed  the  son, 
and  then  he  passed  on,  and  went  south  again. 

Thus  far  for  the  external  history.  Now  the  question 
arises,  in  the  first  place,  What  was  the  intent  of  the  Trans- 


580  LUMINOUS  HOURS. 

figuration  ?  Why  was  such  a  passage  of  history  as  this 
developed  in  the  economy  of  the  New  Testament  ? 

It  is  a  matter  profoundly  to  be  grateful  for,  that  our 
Saviour  was  bodily  tired  at  times ;  that  he  was  hungry  at 
times ;  that  he  was  an  outcast  at  times ;  that  he  had  not 
where  to  lay  his  head ;  that  he  was  homesick.  Said  he, 
"The  foxes  have  holes,  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but 
I  have  not  where  to  lay  my  head."  There  is  nothing  in 
literature  more  touching  than  the  homesickness  of  Christ. 
He  had  wrought  in  his  miraculous  way  and  in  his  teaching 
way,  until  his  spirit  and  body  seemed  spent ;  he  had  come  to 
the  very  climax  of  popularity ;  he  had  been  rejected  by  the 
common  people  ;  and  going  back  to  the  west  side  of  the  lake 
he  was  disowned  by  the  men  of  his  own  nation.  He  was  a 
Jew,  and  he  had  the  spirit  of  patriotism  which  belonged  to 
the  Jew ;  and  no  man  who  loves  his  nation  can  bear  to  be 
set  aside  from  it. 

I  know  that  in  the  old  days  of  the  Anti-slavery  conflict 
there  was  nothing  that  ever  pierced  my  soul  more  bitterly 
than  the  thought  that  I  loved  this  whole  land,  and  was  shut 
out  from  more  than  half  of  it.  I  knew  that  my  heart's 
desire  was  to  have  the  whole  nation  prosperous,  illustrious, 
grand ;  and  to  know  that  that  longing  was  met  with  scorn 
and  contempt  hurt  me.  I  thought  I  understood  how  Christ 
felt  when  he  was  rejected  by  his  own  people. 

So,  spent  by  labor  and  worn  out  by  grief  of  heart,  he 
yearned  for  the  wilderness.  No  man  attempts  to  do  great 
things  for  his  time  and  for  his  people,  that  he  does  not  long 
for  the  wilderness.  The  more  you  love  men,  the  more, 
sometimes,  it  is  impossible  to  endure  them  ;  at  times  you 
go  into  the  forest,  when  trees  seem  more  to  you  than  men 
with  their  selfishness,  uncharitableness,  and  hardness  ;  and 
it  is  a  comfort  to  me  to  know  that  my  Master  was  homesick 
and  worksick,  and  longed  to  get  into  the  wilderness,  where 
no  man  could  find  him. 

He  needed  more  than  that.  Christ  being  under  human 
conditions,  and  suffering  what  humanity  suffers,  was  discour- 
aged ;  and  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  be  built  up  again. 
Therefore  he  ascended  into  the  divine  communion  ;  and  it 


LUMINOUS  HOURS.  581 

pleased  God,  by  the  opening  of  the  heavens,  and  by  those 
messengers  of  the  old  dispensation  that  were  adapted  to  pour 
balm  and  consolation  into  his  heart  who  was  working  for  the 
new,  to  give  him  re-invigoration. 

0  man  of  God,  preaching  in  the  wilderness,  tired,  dis- 
heartened, and  accusing  yourself  of  a  want  of  courage  and 
faith,  your  Master  was  tired,  and  needed  angelic  ministration 
to  set  him  up  for  his  work. 

0  woman  in  some  despoiled  neighborhood,  bearing  the  bur- 
den of  the  household,  and  longing  to  do  something  for  the 
school,  or  for  the  needy  of  the  neighborhood,  unhelped,  alone 
and  discouraged,  and  often  wishing  yourself  dead,  you  tread 
in  the  footsteps  of  Him  who  once  walked  the  earth,  but  who 
now  reigns  in  heaven. 

0  ye  that  are  seeking  the  world's  gain,  either  in  your  fam- 
ily or  in  the  community;  ye  that  embrace  in  your  thought  and 
ambition  the  ages  and  nations,  do  not  be  ashamed  that  you 
experience  hours  of  deep  depression  ;  for  Christ  had  them, 
and  he  sanctified  them  to  the  good  of  men.  Like  him,  too, 
you  may  have  times  of  luminousness  and  emancipation. 
On  the  mountain-top,  unexpectedly,  in  the  night,  when  all  is 
darkness,  there  may  come  to  you  the  radiancy  of  a  revelation 
from  the  heavenly  land. 

Jesus  Christ  was  walking  with  his  face  toward  Jerusalem, 
his  heavens  were  filled  with  thunder-bolts,  stroke  on  stroke 
fell  upon  him,  he  was  subjected  to  torment  and  suffering, 
and  he  needed,  by  influences  from  above,  to  be  armed  for 
the  next  and  last  scene — that  of  his  forty  days'  passion. 

More  than  that,  did  he  not  foresee  that  the  events  then 
taking  place  were  more  than  likely  to  scatter  his  disciples,  to 
frighten  and  dishearten  them,  so  that  he  would  be  quite  for- 
saken by  them  ?  He  did. 

The  Transfiguration  was  meant  primarily  for  his  comfort. 
Next,  it  was  meant  for  the  comfort  of  the  apostles.  Peter, 
James  and  John  were  to  go  with  him  to  Jerusalem.  There 
he  was  to  have  a  season  of  conflict  with  the  scholars  before 
he  went  to  the  peasantry.  He  was  to  go  among  the  educated 
Jews,  to  be  put  into  the  hands  of  wicked  men,  to  be  cruci- 
fied, and  to  be  buried  out  of  sight. 


582  LUMINOUS  HOURS. 

You  recollect  the  beautiful  narrative  given  in  Luke, 
of  the  walk  to  Emmaus.  You  remember  how  bewildered 
they  were ;  how  Christ  walked  with  them  unknown  to  them. 
You  have  not  forgotten  how  he  held  their  eyes  so  that 
they  could  not  tell  who  he  was.  When  they  said  they  had 
hoped  that  Jesus  was  he  who  was  to  be  the  deliverer,  but  that 
he  was  destroyed,  then  Christ  opened  his  mouth  and  taught 
them  out  of  the  Scriptures,  and  showed  them  how  it  was 
necessary  that  the  Saviour  should  be  put  to  death,  and  rise 
again.  That  was  a  very  perilous  period  for  the  disciples, 
during  which  their  Master  was  cut  off  and  entombed,  and 
when  there  was  nothing  for  their  senses — for  their  sensuous 
mind — for  their  bodily  sight,  and  they  had  not  yet  learned 
faith  ;  what  was  it  that  under  such  circumstances  held  the 
disciple  band  together  ? 

Do  you  know  that  the  imagination  is  a  stronger  element 
than  the  reason  ?  You  might  suspect  it  by  the  fact  that 
the  Bible  employs  imagination  ten  times  where  it  does  phil- 
osophy once. 

When  old  people  go  back  to  their  childhood,  what  things 
do  they  remember  most  ?  Arguments  ?  Not  at  all.  What 
do  you  remember  about  your  mother  that  is  gone  ?  Not  any- 
thing by  which  she  was  formally  made  known  to  the  world, 
but  some  picture,  some  scene  of  tenderness,  some  fragrant 
sentiment  which  lingers  in  your  imagination. 

What  is  it  of  your  friends  that  you  remember  longest  ? 
Not  the  shape  of  their  eye-brows,  or  of  their  face,  which  was 
drawn  as  they  sat  like  a  wooden  dunce  having  their  portrait 
made,  but  that  expression  which  they  had  when  they  came 
to  the  door  and  looked  in  and  glanced  at  you ;  or  which 
flashed  over  their  face  when  at  table  some  story  was  told. 
You  remember  that.  You  never  will  forget  it.  The  mem- 
ory of  man  is  kept  alive  by  dreams,  by  superstitions,  or  by 
pictures  which  appeal  to  the  imagination  and  the  fancy. 
These  things  get  a  hold  upon  you  which  can  never  be 
lost. 

Now,  when  the  disciples  went  down  to  Jerusalem,  and 
they  saw  Christ  indefensible,  arrested,  carried  before  tribun- 
als, subjected  to  a  mock  trial,  condemned,  dragged  forth 


LUMINOUS  HOURS.  688 

ignominiously,  taunted,  lifted  upon  the  cross,  in  darkness 
and  anguish,  dying  ;  when  they  saw  his  enemies  triumphant 
and  exultant,  and  saw  Christ  buried,  and  saw  the  stone  rolled 
up  and  the  tomb  sealed,  and  saw  guards  placed  to  watch  the 
sepulcher,  there  was  every  inducement  in  the  world  for  them 
to  have  said  to  themselves,  "  We  have  been  living  like  a  bub- 
ble, and  it  has  burst, — it  is  ended  and  gone";  and  they 
could  not  give  a  reason  for  thinking  it  was  not  gone.  There 
was  nothing  that  they  could  put  their  hands  upon  which 
helped  their  faith  ;  but  they  remembered  how  Christ  looked 
when  working  miracles,  when  performing  deeds  of  mercy, 
and  when  standing  before  them  in  transfiguration  on  the  top 
of  the  mountain  with  the  old  prophets,  and  talking  with 
them,  when  the  cloud  overshadowed  them,  from  which 
the  voice  addressed  them.  This  wonderful  mountain-top  pict- 
ure they  remembered.  Against  their  reason  and  their  senses 
there  was  something  in  their  hearts  that  said,  "We  cannot 
give  it  up";  and  they  held  on  till  the  stone  flew  back  and 
Christ  appeared  again  to  their  longing,  loving  vision. 

As,  then,  the  Transfiguration  was  to  comfort  the  heart  of 
Jesus,  so  it  was  to  prepare  the  disciples  for  the  tribulation 
•which  was  before  them,  and  to  hold  them  steadfast  unto 
the  end. 

Christian  brethren,  there  is  some  instruction  to  you  and 
to  me  which  ought  to  be  drawn  out  of  this  beautiful  picture. 
To  me  it  has  been  as  a  bosom  to  a  child.  I  have  sucked  at  it 
as  a  babe  at  its  mother's  breast,  and  have  been  made  stronger, 
healthier,  patienter,  better,  by  that  which  flows  to  me  from 
this  heavenly  vision  of  the  Transfiguration. 

In  the  first  place,  to  every  one  of  us,  first  or  last,  come 
these  luminous  hours.  I  do  not  believe  but  that  everybody 
has  an  opening  heaven  and  thoughts  that  lift  him  above  the 
vulgar  present.  I  believe  that  everybody  has  heroic  hours, 
generous  hours,  hours  in  which  the  superiority  of  the  true, 
the  good,  the  beautiful,  is  not  any  mere  speculation,  but  a 
sensation,  I  might  almost  say  a  conviction.  Everybody,  I 
think,  has  his  radiant  hours  of  inspiration.  But,  alas  !  most 
men  use  these  hours  simply  as  hours  of  courtesy,  or  hours  of 
luxury,  and  they  say,  "  Oh,  if  we  could  always  feel  so  !  Oh, 


584  LUMINOUS  HOLTXS. 

if  we  could  always  be  just  as  we  were  at  the  end  of  that 
meeting,  when  the  last  hymn  was  sung,  and  the  last  stanza 
was  rounded  out  gloriously !  Oh,  if  we  could  always  be  as 
we  were  at  the  winding  up  of  such  a  sermon,  that  taught  and 
inspired  us  !  Oh,  if  we  could  always  live  in  such  moods  as 
we  come  into  sometimes,  alone,  in  meditation  or  prayer!" 

But  they  are  transient.  Men  do  not  see  them  perhaps  for 
months,  and  sometimes  not  for  years.  They  are  not  concat- 
enated. They  do  not  become  our  life  at  all.  And  transfig- 
uration seven  times  a  week,  I  think,  would  become  unins- 
tructive.  It  is  solitariness  that  makes  a  thing  striking. 
Things  that  we  do  over  and  over  again  every  day  are  trite 
and  make  no  impression  upon  us.  Those  hours  of  illumina- 
tion which  God  gives  to  men  are  precious  hours;  and  you 
want  to  repeat  them.  You  want  to  build  tabernacles  and  sit 
down  in  them.  Some  men's  idea  of  being  a  Christian  is 
to  have  a  good  time  ;  to  sing  hymns  till  they  feel  like 
angels.  They  want  to  be  on  the  mountain-top,  out  of  the 
reach  of  turmoil,  while  at  the  bottom  of  the  mountain  the 
devil  is  at  work  destroying  men.  They  do  not  want  to  be  in 
the  midst  of  sorrow  and  suffering,  where  they  will  see  tears 
and  hear  groans.  They  want  to  enjoy  themselves,  and  let 
the  world  go.  Peter  prayed  for  that;  but  it  was  not  his 
business,  and  it  is  not  yours,  nor  is  it  mine.  Thank  God 
for  the  hours  of  brightness  which  come  to  us,  and  thank 
God  for  the  hours  that  must  come  to  us,  one  after  another, 
of  burdens  and  troubles.  Being  a  Christian  does  not  take 
you  out  of  life,  nor  redeem  you  from  the  laws  of  this  world, 
or  from  social  disturbances,  or  from  political  exigencies. 
We  are  workers  together  with  God,  where  tears  fall,  where 
breaking  hearts  are,  and  where  sorrows  gush  like  springs 
from  mountains.  Here  is  where  we  live,  and  where  we  should 
be ;  and  if  we  are  occasionally  taken  into  those  higher  expe- 
riences, let  us  bless  God  for  them,  and  use  them  to  strengthen 
ourselves  for  lower  ones.  Many  and  many  a  man  is  working 
out  his  salvation  better  in  tears  and  under  burdens  than 
when  he  seems  to  himself  an  angel  about  to  fly  to  the  king- 
dom of  glory.  It  is  not  when  you  feel  best  that  you  are  best, 
but  when  you  suffer  most  and  most  patiently  under  trials  and 


LUMINOUS  HOURS.  585 

misfortunes.  Not  when  God  is  lifting  men  up,  but  when  he 
is  pressing  them  down,  is  he  blessing  them  most. 

Not  when  he  rides  into  the  city  after  a  victory  is  the 
general  most  noble,  but  when  he  is  in  the  wilderness,  and 
everything  is  dark  and  lowering,  and  by  his  courage  and 
indomitable  perseverance  he  overcomes  obstacles.  It  is  when 
a  man  rises  above  his  circumstances  and  moods  that  true 
manhood  shows  itself  in  him.  It  is  then  that  he  is  grandest 
and  nearest  to  God. 

There  is  another  thing.  As  the  Transfiguration  on  the 
mount  was  designed  to  teach  the  disciples  how  to  conduct 
themselves  when  the  exigencies  which  were  to  come  upon 
them  should  be  developed,  so  these  luminous  hours  which 
come  to  all  men  ought  to  be  used  by  them  to  determine  their 
duties  and  courses.  "  What  shall  a  man  do  ?"  is  a  question 
that  is  occurring  every  single  day ;  and  what  a  man  shall  do 
will  be  settled  by  a  higher  or  lower  court.  The  lower  court 
of  man's  nature,  where  pride  and  selfishness  and  avarice  and 
vanity  reside,  almost  always  settles  questions,  and  it  almost 
always  settles  them  wrong.  What  is  generous  ?  Is  it  best  to 
act  generously  ?  What  is  liberal  ?  How  much  ought  a  man 
to  be  liberal  ?  What  is  self-sacrifice  ?  How  far  ought  a  man 
in  justice  to  himself  and  his  family  to  be  self-sacrificing  ? — 
these  questions  are  generally  settled  by  the  lower  court  of  the 
human  mind.  It  says,  "  Take  care  of  yourself :  if  every 
man  would  take  care  of  one,  the  whole  world  would  be  taken 
care  of."  A  man's  first  impulse,  if  he  be  a  man,  is  to  do  the 
best,  the  noblest,  the  ripest  thing;  but  he  says,  "Let  me 
take  a  second  thought";  and  that  second  thought  always 
lowers  the  tone  of  his  manliness. 

A  man  says,  "  I  thought  I  would  give  fifty  dollars ;  but  1 
think  I  will  give  only  twenty-five."  He  thinks  again,  and 
says,  "There  are  so  many  people  here  that  I  don't  believe  I 
need  to  give  more  than  ten  dollars."  Before  the  box  comes 
round  he  thinks  again  ;  and  he  does  not  give  more  than  a 
dollar.  In  those  hours  when"  your  best  nature  is  in  the 
ascendency  ;  when  the  reason  is  calm  and  the  moral  feelings 
are  alive ;  when  you  are  impelled  by  motives  from  the  side 
furthest  awav  from  the  beast — then  is  the  best  time  to  settle 


586  LUMINOUS  HOURS. 

questions  of  doubt  and  procedure.     In  your  best  hours  take 
your  highest  thoughts,  and  follow  them. 

Some  of  you,  in  many  hours,  doubt  whether  there  is  any 
God.  Some  of  you  doubt  whether  there  is  any  validity  in 
the  Bible.  Somo  of  you  doubt  whether  there  is  any  good 
except  as  circumstances  favor.  Those  doubts  and  skepti- 
cisms every  man,  whose  mind  is  active,  and  who  is  observing, 
has,  more  or  less,  in  his  lower  hours  ;  and  they  dampen  and 
hinder  him  ;  but  at  other  times  he  looks  beyond  the  expanse 
of  this  life,  and  over  the  horizon,  and  he  has  a  sense  of  the 
certainty  and  nearness  of  God  ;  and  his  whole  soul  adjudi- 
cates. Then  it  is  that  he  should  take  his  reckoning,  fix  his 
landmarks  and  steer  by  them. 

When  a  man  goes  over  the  Alleghanies,  or  any  untrodden 
mountain,  on  some  hill-top  he  looks  forward  and  sees  how  the 
whole  land  lies  ;  and  he  singles  out  some  vast  rock,  some  tall 
pine,  or  some  prominent  point,  as  a  land  mark  ;  then  he 
goes  down  into  the  champaign,  and  the  way  is  no  longer  open 
like  a  map  before  him.  He  is  lost ;  but  still  he  keeps  the 
general  direction ;  and  by  and  by,  through  a  little  opening, 
he  sees  yonder  rock  or  pine  or  point ;  and  he  says,  "  Ah  ! 
that  is  what  I  saw,"  and  travels  on,  and  emerges  again. 
Pretty  soon  he  disappears  again  in  the  valley,  but  keeping  the 
direction,  he  soon  rises  again  so  that  his  landmark  comes  into 
view  once  more. 

It  is  when  you  are  on  the  mountain-top  that  you  should 
take  your  landmarks  and  steer  toward  them,  and  when  you 
go  down  and  lose  sight  of  them,  keep  straight  across  the 
valley  until  you  rise  so  that  they  greet  your  vision  again. 
Not  when  you  are  in  the  valley  can  you  tell  which  way  to 
travel,  unless  you  have  learned  it  on  the  top  of  the  hill. 

One  single  other  thing.  After  all  the  beauty  and  sub- 
limity of  this  wonderful  miracle  wrought  upon  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  after  all  the  instruction  connected  with  it, 
it  still  comes  back  to  me  in  the  light  of  the  apostle's  joyful 
yet  sad  utterance,  "  Now  we  see  through  a  glass,  darkly ;  but 
then  face  to  face."  We  are  all  of  us  ignorant ;  we  know  in 
part ;  we  are  partialists  ;  nobody  knows  a  great  deal ;  but  the 
time  is  drawing  near,  Christian  brethren,  when  neither  upon 


LUMINOUS  HOURS.  587 

this  mountain,  nor  at  Jerusalem,  nor  upon  Mount  Hermon, 
nor  upon  any  earth-summit,  shall  we  need  to  receive  instruc- 
tion, or  have  any  luminous  hours,  or  pass  through  this  or 
that  experience  ;  but  when  we  shall  stand  in  Zion  and  before 
God,  and  shall  see  him  as  he  is,  and  shall  be  like  him,  and 
shall  rejoice  with  him  forever  and  forever. 

May  God  so  incline  your  hearts  to  wisdom,  your  souls  to 
love,  and  your  lives  to  faith  and  to  a  holy  obedience,  that 
when,  brighter  a  thousand  times  than  the  Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration, the  vision  of  God  shall  rise  upon  you  in  the  other 
life,  your  eye  shall  not  blench,  and  your  heart  shall  not  be 
daunted. 

He  it  is  for  whom  I  have  waited.  This  is  He  for  whom 
my  soul  has  longed.  I  have  traveled  through  time,  and  twi- 
light, and  midnight,  and  sorrow  ;  but  I  behold  Him,  and  it 
is  enough.  The  blessing  is  begun,  and  it  shall  end  ue.'er. 


588  LUMINOUS  HOURS. 


PKAYEK   BEFORE  THE   SERMON. 

WE  bless  thee,  our  Father,  for  the  clear  light  of  truth,  dawning 
in  the  early  day,  and  gathering  strength  with  the  ages.  It  shines 
brighter  and  brighter  unto  the  perfect  day.  Forgive  us  that  we  have 
so  much  light,  and  yet  go  stumbling  along  the  way  of  life.  Forgive 
us  that  we,  standing  under  the  influences  of  two  worlds,  are  scarcely 
able  to  know  and  understand  the  laws  of  one,  and  obey  them.  We 
acknowledge  our  weakness;  the  sense  of  our  sinfulness is  always  with 
us ;  but  thou  art  gracious.  Thou  dwellest  in  love  unspeakable.  We 
build  with  selfishness  and  pride.  We,  creatures  of  the  dust,  and 
ruled  by  material  influences,  hardly  yet  understand,  even  in  our 
choicest  experiences,  what  are  the  greatness,  and  the  wisdom,  and 
the  power  and  the  discipline  of  divine  love.  We  rejoice  that  thy 
government  is  established  thereupon.  We  rejoice  that  God  is  love, 
and  that  yet  he  will  control  the  universe  so  that  all  things  shall  work 
together  for  good,  and  that  tears  shall  be  wiped  away,  and  groans 
shall  cease,  and  sorrows  shall  roll  their  ceaseless  waves  no  more  for 
ever,  and  that  there  shall  be  no  more  hurting,  and  no  more  sickness, 
and  no  more  crying,  and  no  more  death.  How  far  away  this  land  of 
vision  is  we  know  not;  through  how  many  ages  yet  the  world  must 
travail  in  pain  we  do  not  know;  but  it  is  a  joy  to  our  heart  to  believe 
that  this  radiant  future  is  the  consummation,  and  that  toward  it  all 
things  are  steering.  Whatever  may  be  the  mischances,  whatever 
may  be  the  interruptions  and  hindrances,  however  long  the  term 
may  be,  yet  there  shall  come  a  day  when  all  things  shall  be  gathered 
up,  and  when  to  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  every  knee  shall 
bow,  and  every  tongue  confess,  of  things  in  heaven  and  things  on 
earth,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.  And  we  rejoice  that  when  the 
end  shall  come,  he  will  deliver  up  the  authority,  and  God  will  be 
supreme,  all  in  all.  Our  reason  cannot  follow.  Our  imagination 
staggers.  What  the  radiant  glory  of  that  far-off  development  and 
perfectness  of  being  shall  be  we  cannot  tell ;  but  we  hope,  and  fash- 
ion to  ourselves  in  a  thousand  effervescent  ways,  and  by  a  thousand 
pictures  that  come  and  go,  the  blessedness  of  that  estate  in  which  we 
shall  dwell  with  God. 

May  the  light  of  hope  cheer  us.  May  there  fall  down  from  heaven 
upon  our  souls,  to-day,  some  brightness  and  joy  that  shall  enable  us 
to  be  stronger,  more  courageous  and  hopeful,  and  better  able  to 
endure  unto  the  end. 

Especially  we  beseech  of  thee,  draw  near  to  thy  servants  that  are 
gathered  together  here  this  morning,  and  surprise  those  that  have 
come  not  knowing  why  they  came,  and  cheer  those  that  have  come 
hoping  to  meet  thee.  Lift  the  light  of  thy  countenance  upon  those 
who  dare  not  raise  their  eyes  unto  thee,  being  children  of  sorrow, 
bound  fast  and  hopeless,  if  such  there  be. 

Grant,  O  Lord,  that  thy  light  may  come  to  those  who  sit  in  the 
valley  and  shadow  of  death.  Make  thyself  again,  as  on  earth  thou 
didst  declare  thyself  to  be,  the  opener  of  prison-doors ;  the  breaker 
of  bands  and  shackles ;  the  emancipator,  leading  forth  those  who  are 


LUMfNOUS  HOURS.  589 

bound  in  dungeons.  Give  release  to  consciences  that  are  bound  and 
imprisoned.  Give  release  to  those  who  are  endungeoned  by  doubts, 
and  to  those  who  are  hopeless  by  reason  of  outward  troubles.  Break 
the  yoke  that  is  oppressive,  and  put  upon  the  neck  the  yoke  that  is 
light  and  easy. 

Grant,  we  beseech  of  thee,  that  Jesus  Christ  may  be  known  to  all 
who  are  here  to-day,  as  the  great  presentation  of  God ;  as  the  helpful 
and  suffering  Father;  as  the  one  who  bears  the  burdens  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  carries  all  things  in  his  arms  toward  universal  victory. 
Grant  that  we  may  have  rising  upon  our  thoughts  to-day  a  concep- 
tion of  the  Healer,  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  that  every  one  of  us 
may  be  able  to  come  under  his  wings,  and  be  brooded  of  God. 

We  pray  that  thou  wilt  bless  the  little  ones— the  children  that  are 
growing  up.  May  God  guide  them  to  honor,  and  fidelity,  and  true 
manliness  and  piety.  We  pray  that  their  parents  may  both  set  a 
godly  example  before  them,  and  know  how  to  train  them,  as  well  as 
to  teach  them. 

Bless,  we  pray  thee.  the  families  that  are  gathered  together. 
Search  out  all  their  needs.  Help  every  one  of  them  to  trust  in  God, 
and  to  bring  that  trust  to  bear  on  the  affairs  of  life. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  go  with  our  thoughts  every- 
where to-day  as  we  remember  those  who  are  left  behind,  and  those 
who  have  gone  forth  upon  the  great  sea,  and  those  who  are  scattered 
abroad  throughout  the  continent.  Will  the  Lord  bless  abundantly 
those  who  are  absent  from  us.  Thy  heart  is  larger  and  warmer  than 
ours.  Take  the  measure  of  thy  benefaction,  not  from  our  thinkings, 
but  from  thine  own  nature;  and  overflow  the  souls  not  only  of  those 
present,  but  of  those  absent  ones  who  are  dear  to  us. 

We  beseech  of  thee  that  thou  wilt  bless  this  neighborhood,  and  all 
the  region  around  about.  Bless  all  this  great  congregation  in  their 
gathering  together  this  day  to  worship  God.  We  beseech  of  thee 
that  in  the  stillness  and  sweetness  of  this  mountain  retreat,  the  pres- 
ence of  that  God  who  spoke  from  Mount  Sinai  and  from  Mount  Cal- 
vary may  be  felt.  May  this  be  a  Sabbath  of  calmness  and  peace  in 
the  souls  of  multitudes. 

May  a  blessing  accompany  those  who  go  hence.  Grant  that  all 
the  villages  and  neighborhoods  may  be  visited  by  thy  salvation. 

Be  pleased,  O  God,  to  remember  our  whole  land,  and  all  classes 
and  conditions  that  are  in  it.  Remember  those  who  are  spoiled  and 
broken  up  in  life,  and  are  dying  of  despondency.  Remember  those 
who  are  outcast  in  ignorance,  and  know  not  how  to  conduct  their 
lives  well.  We  ask  thy  mercy  for  all  those  who  are  seeking  knowl- 
edge, discouraged,  in  twilight,  but  who  yet  are  looking  toward  the 
East  for  the  dawning  of  intelligence. 

Grant,  we  beseech  of  thee,  thy  blessing  upon  the  States  of  this 
Union.  May  all  those  bonds  that  have  been  broken  be  reunited  more 
firmly  than  evei.  May  all  causes  of  offense,  and  dislike,  and  hatred 
be  purged  away,  and  may  justice,  and  love,  and  reciprocal  interests, 
and  common  patriotism,  and  longing  for  the  welfare  of  the  world 
around  about  us  and  lying  in  wickedness,  be  ushered  in.  Unite  us 
inseparably  that  the  nation  may,  following  the  example  of  the  Lord 


590  LUMINOUS  HOURS. 

Jesus  Christ,  use  its  power,  not  for  the  despoiling  of  the  poor  and  the 
weak,  but  rather  for  their  building  up  on  every  hand. 

Bless  the  President  of  these  United  States,  and  all  who  are  joined 
with  him  in  authority.  Bless  all  the  Governors  of  the  several  States 
of  this  nation,  all  judges  and  magistrates,  and  the  great  people. 
And  grant  that  thy  kingdom  may  come,  and  thy  will  be  done,  in  this 
land  as  in  heaven. 

These  mercies  we  ask  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Redeemer.    Amen. 


PEAYEE  AFTEE  THE  SEEMON. 

Otm  Father,  bless  to  us  the  truth  which  we  have  spoken.  Bless  to 
us  the  scenes  that  are  recorded  in  thy  holy  word.  Grant  that  we 
who  interpret  that  word  so  poorly  may  discern  more  fruit  and 
instruction  in  it  than  we  have  been  wont  to  think  it  contained.  May 
we  learn  more  and  more  easily  from  it.  Yet,  may  it  not  supersede 
the  experiences  of  our  lives,  nor  the  revelations  that  thou  art  mak- 
ing to  every  person  in  bis  family,  and  in  all  his  way  and  work. 
Bless  thy  word  to  those  who  are  impatient  of  the  disciplines  and 
trials  of  thy  providence,  and  to  those  whose  hearts  are  set  against 
the  truth.  Bless  all  thy  servants  in  the  varied  lines  of  their  duty. 
And  bring  us,  with  all  whom  thou  lovest  upon  the  earth— oh,  bring 
us,  ransomed  and  redeemed,  into  the  kingdom  of  thy  heavenly  glory. 
And  we  will  give  the  praise  to  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Spirit, 
•vtrmore.  Amen. 


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easy,  and  the  descriptions  of  the 
Roman  Emperors,  of  the  Christian 
bishop  K'isebius,  the  domestic  life  of 


and  worship  in  the  catacombs,  are 
picturesquely  presented  and  histori- 
cally correct." — Art  Interchange. 


RELIGIOUS  PUBLICATIONS. 


John  G.  Lansing,  D.D. 
See  Xew  Testament  and  Psalms:  American  Version. 

Harriet  Raymond  Lloyd. 

LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHV  HOWARD  RAYMOND,  First 
President  of  Vassar  College  [the  fiist  College  for  Women].  Edited 
by  his  Daughter.  744  pp  ,  8vo.  Steel  portrait.  Cloth,  $2.50. 

honor  that  can  be  paid  him  for  the 
work  he  thus  accomplished." — Boston 


"  It  is  the  creation  of  Vassar  Col- 
lege out  of  his  own  brain,  the  ad- 
vance from  theory  to  practice,  the 
working;  out  of  the  pathway  for  the 
higher  education  of  women  where 
none  existed,  that  wise  conservatism 
and  intelligent  progress  by  which  these 
results  were  reached,  and  the  entire 
consecration  of  his  life  to  these  ends 
— which  is  Dr.  RAYMOND'S  chief 
monument." — New  York  Times. 

"Dr.    RAYMOND  deserves  all  the 


Traveller. 

A  book,  the  charm  of  which  it  is 


not  easy  to  express. 


This  ad- 


mirably judicious  record  of  a  wholly 
and  singularly  beautiful,  strong,  wise, 
consecrated  life,  will  do  not  a  little, 
wherever  read,  to  perpetuate  the  use- 
fulness of  the  man." — Chicago  Ad- 


Henry  C.  McCook,  D.D. 

THE  WOMEN  FRIENDS  OF  JESUS.  By  the  Pastor  of  the 
Taberr.ade  Presbyterian  Church,  Philadelphia.  Crown  8vo,  450 
pp  Cloth,  decorated,  $2.00.  Cloth,  gilt,  $2.50.  Turkey  mor- 
occo, gilt,  $5.00. 
"  A  thoughtful  sentence  caught  our 

eyes,   and   we   soon  found   that  the 

book  is  full  of  such.  .  .  There  is  a 

very   striking   mingling    of    ancient 

learning  and  modern  illustration.  .  . 

A  true  acquaintance  with  the  modern 

Orient  is  brought  to  bear  upon  the 


"  Very  good,  clear  and  unambi- 
tious in  style,  yet  full  of  picture, 
character,  vigor;  unmarred  by  cant 
or  narrowness;  with  learning  of 
books  and  acquaintance  with  human 
nature  well  coupled;  graphic  with 
experiences  of  travel;  every  way 


discussion  of  the  past." —  The  Church-    commendable.  "—Springfield  (Mass.) 
man  (Episcopalian),  New  York.  I  Republican. 


Thomas  M.  McWhirmey,  D.D. 

REASON  AND   REVELATION>   Hand   in   Hand. 
594  pp.     Cloth,  $1.50. 


Crown 


8vo. 

"  Showing  the  reasonableness  of 
revealed  religion  when  seen  in  the 
light  of  common  sense.  A  book 


well  adapted  to  the  questionings  of 
the  time;  strong,  clear,  and  cogent." 
—  The  Lutheran  (Philadelphia). 


HEAVENLY  RECOGNITION.  The  natural  and  scriptural 
arguments  for  personal  immortality  and  identity  after  this  life; 
comforting  discourses.  I2mo  Vellum  cloth,  60  cts. 

"A  charming  book;  rich  in  in- i  range,  and  makes  everything  bear 
struction,  comfort,  and  help.'' — Chi-  \  upon  the  point  of  discussion.1' — 
cago  Standard.  I  St.  Louis  Central  Baptist. 

"  He  reasons   well,  takes  a   wide  I 


RELIGIOUS  PUBLICATIONS. 


New  Testament  and  Psalms. 

THE  AMERICAN  VERSION:  Revised  New  Testament  and 
Psalms.  I  vol.  Crown  8vo.  Cloth,  red  edges,  $1.00.  Containing: 
The  Revised  New  Testament,  with  the  preferred  readings  and 
renderings  of  the  American  Revisers  embodied  in  the  text,  by 
Rev.  ROSWELL  D.  HITCHCOCK,  D.D.,  late  President  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  New  York  City;  and 

The  Revised  Book  of  Psalms,  similarly  edited,  by  JOHN  G. 
LANSING,  D.D  ,  Professor  of  Old  Testament  Languages  and 
Exegesis,  Theol.  Seminary,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J. 


"  It  represents  the  best,  the  oldest, 
and  the  purest,  Greek  text  .  .  .  [and] 
is  the  most  accurate  English  render- 
ing in  existence  of  that  Greek  text." 
— N.  Y.  Ch.  Intelligencer. 

"  Great  pains  have  evidently  been 
taken  to  make  it  accurate.  .  .  .  The 
typographical  execution  is  admira- 


ble."— DR.  EZRA  ABBOT,  of  the  Am. 
Committee  of  Revision. 

"The  old-fashioned  combination 
of  Testament  and  Psalms,  so  dear  to 
many  a  household  for  devotional  OUT 
poses  will  be  obtainable  in  lare*. 
agreeable  type  and  at  a  low  price." 
—Christian  Standard  (Cinn.,  O.) 


Also,   The  Book  of  Psalms  (foregoing).     Limp  cloth,    25  cts. 

Jacob  Harris  Patton,  Ph.D. 

CONCISE  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE.  Illus- 
trated with  Portraits,  Charts,  Maps,  etc.  Marginal  Dates,  Census 
Tables,  Statistical  References,  and  full  Indexes.  2  vols.,  8vo,  $5.00. 
"  Prof.  PATTON  approaches  much  (  Anyone  can  satisfy  himself  on  this 

point  by  reading  what  he  has  to  say 
concerning  the  effect  of  the  Reforms 
tion  on  American  history,  the  Hnpijo 
nots,  John  Eliot,  the  Pilgrim  Father* 


and  Jonathan  Edwards." — FRANCIS 
L.  PATTON,  D.D.,  President  of 
Princeton  College. 


nearer  to  the  ideal  historian  than  an 
writer  of  similar  books." — Christian 
Union. 

"The  writer  has  done  his  work 
well.  .  .  .  And,  what  is  particularly 
gratifying,  he  does  ample  justice  to 
the  religious  elements  that  enter  into 
the  making  of  the  American  people. 

Harriet  Beecher  Stowe. 

FOOTSTEPS  OF  THE  MASTER.  Meditations  upon  the 
Life  of  Our  Lord  on  Earth;  with  appropriate  Poems,  Carols, 
Hymns,  etc.,  original  and  selected.  I2mo.  300  pp.  With 
Rubricated  titles  and  Illustrative  vignettes.  Cloth,  $1.50. 


"  A  volume  of  comfort,  a  volume 
of  help,  of  sustained  purity  and  holi- 
ness of  purpose.  .  .  .  No  one  can 
read  these  offerings  without  feeling 
their  uplifting  influence,  their  earnest 
direction  to  better  living  and  happier 


dying,  their  noble  sustaining  power 
in  time  of  doubt  and  trouble.  .  .  . 
The  volume  is  beautifully  issued." — 
Boston  Traveller. 

"  Of  exceptional  beauty  and  sub- 
stantial worth." — Congregationalist. 


*#*  Send  for  our  Selected  Catalogue  of  choice  books  by  American 
authors. 

FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT,  New  York. 


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Return  this  material  to  the  library 

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JAN  29 1993 


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RCC'D  URL  C 

MAR  0 1 1991 


